Brinks jewellery heist suspect to plead responsible in practically $100 million theft – NBC Los Angeles
A Pasadena man who allegedly broke right into a Brinks truck and stole practically $100 million price of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and watches in what officers take into account the largest jewellery heist in U.S. historical past has agreed to plead responsible to a federal cost, based on court docket papers obtained Monday.
Carlos Victor Mestanza Cercado, 32, is anticipated to enter a plea to a single depend of interference with commerce by theft on a date to be scheduled. The cost carries a potential sentence of as much as 20 years imprisonment, plus a interval of supervised launch and restitution to be decided.
In line with his plea settlement, filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court docket, on the night of July 10, 2022, Mestanza and co-defendants scouted a Brinks semi-trailer truck leaving a global jewellery present in San Mateo with 73 baggage containing tens of millions of {dollars} of knickknack. From that night to the subsequent morning, the conspirators and associates adopted the Brinks truck practically 300 miles from the jewellery present to relaxation stops in Buttonwillow and Lebec, north of Los Angeles, the doc states.
Whereas the truck was stopped in Lebec, authorities imagine the defendants stole two dozen baggage containing practically $100 million of knickknack. Within the following days, Mestanza and the others deactivated their telephone numbers that they’d been utilizing in the course of the heist, court docket papers present.
The culprits returned to Los Angeles County with the stolen merchandise to divide up and promote, based on the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace.
Mestanza and the others are additionally alleged to have stolen $240,573 price of Samsung electronics from an interstate cargo cargo in Ontario on March 2, 2022. These defendants allegedly then robbed a field truck driver of $57,377 price of Apple AirTags. One of many robbers brandished a knife and threatened the driving force, prosecutors allege.
Then, on Might 25, 2022, the defendants allegedly tried to interrupt right into a truck at a Fontana relaxation cease utilizing a crowbar. Shortly after, prosecutors contend, the identical defendants efficiently stole practically $14,081 price of Samsung electronics from one other interstate cargo in Fontana.
After the federal indictment towards him was made public in June 2025, Mestanza allegedly made web searches in search of details about defendants like himself needed by the police, Interpol and Ecuadorian authorities. After touring to Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and Canada, Mestanza was picked up on July 1, 2025, on the worldwide airport in Panama Metropolis, Panama, throughout a layover from Guatemala to Ecuador, based on his plea settlement.
Three of Mestanza’s co-defendants are scheduled for trial in March in downtown Los Angeles. Legislation enforcement officers are trying to find two others, whereas a seventh defendant was deported, officers mentioned.
