Easter Sunday Heist in Los Angeles Nets Thieves $30 Million from Sylmar Money Vault

In what is being described as one of the largest cash heists in Los Angeles history, a burglary crew successfully stole as much as $30 million from a money storage facility in Sylmar on Easter Sunday. The facility, managed by Gardaworld, handles and stores cash for businesses across the region. According to L.A. Police Department Cmdr. Elaine Morales, the theft occurred Sunday night, with the burglars breaching both the building and the vault where the cash was stored. This heist has surpassed the total amount stolen in any armored-car heist in the city’s history.

The burglars executed a meticulously planned break-in by entering the facility through the roof, raising questions about how they managed to circumvent the alarm system. The heist was only discovered the following Monday when the operators opened the vault. The presence of a large cut on the side of the building, later covered with plywood, was visible in news helicopter footage, indicating the extent of the breach. Despite triggering at least one alarm, the burglars’ sophisticated methods suggest they had inside knowledge of the facility, possibly hinting at the involvement of individuals with intimate awareness of the security setup.

This heist marks a significant event in Los Angeles’s criminal history, drawing comparisons to other major thefts, including the previously largest cash robbery at the Dunbar Armored facility in 1997, involving $18.9 million. The involvement of the FBI alongside the LAPD underscores the heist’s gravity and the ongoing efforts to trace both the perpetrators and the stolen cash. Scott Andrew Selby, a heist historian, commented on the professionalism and potential inside intelligence of the crew, highlighting the challenges in tracing such a large amount of stolen cash.