Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Zara, Elizabeth, it's you, It's me, Saron Brunette.
Speaker 3: That's right, that's a.
Speaker 2: Listen pal. You know it's ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Yes, I do, Elizabeth. I'm glad you asked me. Cowboy hats.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally ridiculous on birds, super ridiculous.
Speaker 3: So you got family in Las Vegas, I do.
Speaker 4: Did they ever tell you about about a little time
Speaker 4: about five six years ago when people were seeing birds
Speaker 4: fly around Las Vegas with cowboy hats?
Speaker 2: No, par did share this with me.
Speaker 4: Apparently for a while in December of twenty nineteen, people
Speaker 4: were noticing these.
Speaker 3: Quote the birds have hats on bro.
Speaker 4: So somebody they recorded a twelve second video in a
Speaker 4: parking lot of these birds like pecking at Dorito's, like
Speaker 4: thrown into a parking lot, just on a normal like
Speaker 4: seven to eleven parking lot. Yeah, but the birds were
Speaker 4: wearing cowboy hats, tiny cowboy hats, little pigeons with tiny.
Speaker 2: Proof.
Speaker 3: There is it.
Speaker 4: There is video proof, and the videos were shared and
Speaker 4: enjoy to buy millions.
Speaker 2: Well otherwise it's just's yeah.
Speaker 4: Now people were like, wait a minute, did he do this?
Speaker 4: And then somebody else. Someone else pointed out that the
Speaker 4: Wrangler National Finals rodeo was in town, and they're like,
Speaker 4: did they do this as like a hype thing for
Speaker 4: the rodeo. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association had to come
Speaker 4: out and say, we had nothing to do with the
Speaker 4: pigeons wearing cowboy hats.
Speaker 2: Wait wait, since someone was just a vigilante, yes, as
Speaker 2: pigeon exactly.
Speaker 4: The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police had to come out and say.
Speaker 3: It does not appear to be a police matter at
Speaker 3: this time.
Speaker 4: The Clark County spokeswoman, they said, I have no immediate comment.
Speaker 3: I didn't know what to do right.
Speaker 4: Some people were worried, so like a veterinarian came in
Speaker 4: and said, well, actually, they make a glues for animals,
Speaker 4: and I think that they may not be it's not
Speaker 4: obstructing their vision or their ability to eat, So I
Speaker 4: think that the birds will be fine. Okay, because apparently
Speaker 4: they make this like spargum for birds. I think they
Speaker 4: think that somebody just plopped that on the pigeon's head
Speaker 4: and propped it on there instead of using like super glue,
Speaker 4: and you.
Speaker 2: Know, they got some of that like showgirls.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so they they look like there. It was not
Speaker 4: that the animals were hurt, Elizabeth, I don't worrying. They
Speaker 4: were just upgraded fashion.
Speaker 2: Man. There you go. That's ridiculous. Do you want to
Speaker 2: know what else is ridiculous?
Speaker 3: Goodness?
Speaker 5: Yeah, the grape Vine.
Speaker 2: No, no, this is ridiculous Crime a podcast about absurd
Speaker 2: and outrageous capers. Heis and cons it's always ninety nine
Speaker 2: percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous.
Speaker 3: You heard that, right? You?
Speaker 2: All right? Do you pull something?
Speaker 3: The interns? Hold me down.
Speaker 2: There. You're a big road trip guy.
Speaker 3: Oh my god. I lived for road trips. That's what
Speaker 3: I did for my birthday last year. I took a
Speaker 3: road trip by.
Speaker 2: Myself, just drove across country.
Speaker 4: That was my gift to myself. I drove across country
Speaker 4: all by myself.
Speaker 3: It was awesome. Took me like five days.
Speaker 2: It was love pretty cool.
Speaker 3: It's one of my favorite things to do.
Speaker 2: I get carsick easily. Oh that's not my favorite.
Speaker 3: Oh that totally. Did it happen even if you're driving?
Speaker 3: That that helps.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if I'm driving, it's not an issue. But I
Speaker 2: also just don't like to sit for such long perme time.
Speaker 3: Twelve hours as long as the world's moving.
Speaker 2: I love the concept of a road. Are parts that
Speaker 2: I enjoy like I like going places that I've never been.
Speaker 2: That's true, things that I may never see again.
Speaker 3: This is true.
Speaker 2: And the life I love is making music with my friends.
Speaker 2: So that's why you get on the road again, On
Speaker 2: the road again, but on the road again, Elizabeth, I
Speaker 2: am band the Gypsies. We go down the highway, making friends,
Speaker 2: best of friends, insisting in the world turning our way
Speaker 2: and our way on the aga. Okay, So I do
Speaker 2: love a good roadside stand or oh that's true.
Speaker 3: You you will make us pull over if I'm ever
Speaker 3: in the car.
Speaker 2: They got a lot of those on the old roots.
Speaker 2: Like strawberries you one o one from the bay to
Speaker 2: l A. Like strawberry stands, cherries and cherries, garlic.
Speaker 3: You'll stop for avocado, artichokes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'll bust it out for vegetables.
Speaker 3: Will get a stop for you.
Speaker 2: One time, one of the best discoveries I ever had
Speaker 2: was in an artichoke stand. I bought some seasoning called
Speaker 2: garlic Dude dust. If you can get your hands on it,
Speaker 2: I use it on everything anyway. I like stopping at
Speaker 2: nice rest stops.
Speaker 3: That's true, like nice, what is nice?
Speaker 2: Like that? The ones well lit, clean ones, and they've
Speaker 2: got like every conceivable.
Speaker 4: I like the state welcome centers. Oh yeah, you get
Speaker 4: to the border and the first stop, those are Yeah.
Speaker 3: I always try to hit those.
Speaker 2: Up me too. But I'm talking about like when you
Speaker 2: walk into a convenience store, part of it. They've got
Speaker 2: every snack that's ever been made, all the two thousands
Speaker 2: about truck stops and like yeah, and then the rest
Speaker 2: up trucks like amazing souvenirs.
Speaker 4: Okay, yes that truck stops, those are awesome. But the
Speaker 4: clean ones, Yeah, you've got to be clean ones.
Speaker 2: What's your what's your go to roads?
Speaker 3: Also, I want them to only sell knives, not guns
Speaker 3: a truck stop.
Speaker 2: I don't want guns.
Speaker 4: Knives that's cool, yeah, exactly, dolls.
Speaker 2: You can drink the road and I'm buying a shot.
Speaker 2: So what's your road snack? What do you get?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 2: You know, I got a sweet too always things that
Speaker 2: you would never touch like in real life.
Speaker 4: Oh we yeah, you know me, I got a sweet tooth.
Speaker 4: So that basically means is I get like rare to
Speaker 4: me gummy worms. I'm like, I've never tried, and I
Speaker 4: get those or then like I'll get like not only
Speaker 4: just thoughts. I'm always been like a bunch of always
Speaker 4: and chocolate eat it all at the same time.
Speaker 3: Like I'm kind of like like, yeah, a bad diet,
Speaker 3: pre diabetic.
Speaker 2: I get with. I get with the corn nuts.
Speaker 6: You like all those savor.
Speaker 2: Things filled with cheese stuff.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, the yeah, the cones, the combos combos. There
Speaker 3: you go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I'm in the car.
Speaker 3: Like if hot pocket was a smaller snack.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so good and so bad.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Anyway, So I wrote a novel about an epic that you.
Speaker 3: Did, a really good one called Drift. I recommend it
Speaker 3: to everybody here.
Speaker 2: I am not celebrating the road trip. I know, I
Speaker 2: take it all back. I want to go on a
Speaker 2: road trip.
Speaker 4: But by the way, just how long could you be
Speaker 4: if we were to say, drive somewhere five hours six hours?
Speaker 2: I like five six is a good sweet spot, Like
Speaker 2: when I've driven across country have done eight hours, and that's.
Speaker 3: Just like I've done that with you. I know too much.
Speaker 3: I'm like twelve, You're like, I will tell you hell no,
Speaker 3: I would jump from this car of leisurely thing it's smart.
Speaker 4: I'd never traveled like that. It's pretty took like, how
Speaker 4: long two weeks? How long did drive across country?
Speaker 2: Days? But we did eight hours. Yeah, we could have gone,
Speaker 2: you know, shorter drives each day and it would have
Speaker 2: been better. Two weeks. Fine, whatever, it's time to a pig. Okay.
Speaker 2: So anyway, in my book, the protagonist stops at a
Speaker 2: rest stop, a gas station on the grape Vine And
Speaker 2: for the uninitiated, that's technically the Teyhone Pass.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's a mountain separating La from the valley.
Speaker 2: Yes, so it's that stretch of Interstate five between the
Speaker 2: Central Valley between and you know, connects Central Value, Southern California,
Speaker 2: cuts right through the Tahatchepee Mountains. There, stops there, Gorman.
Speaker 4: Are fine as I've broken down, and Mini and Bec yeah, Lebec,
Speaker 4: I know Gorman and Lebec.
Speaker 2: I'm front down and lots of truck stops, t hone,
Speaker 2: passed home pass, motels, fast food, gas station like that.
Speaker 3: It's come along a lot. Yeah, break down, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. When we were like, oh, Tuble goes by
Speaker 2: and there's like a cow skill. I want to focus
Speaker 2: on Libec right now. Though, this is so not a
Speaker 2: place that one checks out on Google street View and
Speaker 2: immediately adds to the best visit. Yes I did. I
Speaker 2: mean I've been there, right, But you know what, God bless,
Speaker 2: I wish the place is even the best. But as
Speaker 2: I went to go Google street View and I was like,
Speaker 2: I was like, this is so much different than my
Speaker 2: normal Google street View for these things.
Speaker 3: Do you know where it gets its name A Frenchman?
Speaker 2: Yeah, player, there was a dude Peter le Bec and
Speaker 2: it was spelled with like the qi on the end.
Speaker 2: He was a French Canadian trapper in the early eighteen
Speaker 2: hundreds who made his way down to.
Speaker 5: Alta, California.
Speaker 2: Then, yeah, he was what was he trapping Ralizabeth, Nauga,
Speaker 2: prized for their high be No, it looks like he
Speaker 2: was after.
Speaker 5: Bears, grizzly grizzly.
Speaker 2: So he caught sight of one in the area that
Speaker 2: now holds his name, and he gave chase and he
Speaker 2: shot it under a valley oke and the bear's dying
Speaker 2: act was to maul and kill him. He's oh, you
Speaker 2: got me, come over, come look at this boon to.
Speaker 3: The family, so hard at your ancestors.
Speaker 2: It's well he.
Speaker 3: Did shoot the bear. If you shoot the bear, he
Speaker 3: may shoot back exactly.
Speaker 2: He and the bear were buried at the foot of
Speaker 2: the tree. Yeah, by whom I don't know, the locals,
Speaker 2: the local tribe, whoever it was, cut back some of
Speaker 2: the bark on that valley oke and carved Peter Lebec
Speaker 2: l E. B. E c K Killed by an ex
Speaker 2: bear October O c.
Speaker 3: T r.
Speaker 2: Seventeen, eighteen thirty seven on the bear spot. They cart
Speaker 2: the and as the years passed, the bark of the
Speaker 2: tree grew up over the carving. And then some fifty
Speaker 2: or so years later a group came upon the carving
Speaker 2: all covered up. They preserved it, and then they reburied
Speaker 2: Lebeck and the bear wow into like real. And then
Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy two friends of the show e Clampus Vitis,
Speaker 2: Oh the Clampers, they put up a plaque reading Peter
Speaker 2: Lebeck killed by a bear, October seventeenth, eighteen thirty seven,
Speaker 2: in memory of a pioneer of whom only conjecture can speak.
Speaker 2: Dedicated October fourteenth, nineteen seventy two. Eclampus Vitas Peter Lebeck,
Speaker 2: Chapter eighteen sixty six. So the Peter leb Bec chapter.
Speaker 2: The Bear No, the Peter Lebec chapter is the one
Speaker 2: for Kerrn County, and their website is almost as good
Speaker 2: as ours.
Speaker 5: Really, it's yeah, they.
Speaker 2: Got way more content. We once got an invite to
Speaker 2: a Clamper event, but I don't know whatever happened with that.
Speaker 3: Happened.
Speaker 2: I think I really do want to go to one.
Speaker 3: I do doo. So we got a second invitement for.
Speaker 2: Listening Saren and I want to go to one of
Speaker 2: your events, like we could turn it into an episode.
Speaker 3: We love history and I drink Yeah there it.
Speaker 2: Is perfect Lebec. So there's a Flying J truck stop
Speaker 2: in Lebec.
Speaker 3: Oh, Flying Jo.
Speaker 2: That is a good solid truck stop. They're usually cleaned
Speaker 2: and they got a lot of stacks.
Speaker 3: Second is Travel Centers of America.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, yes, yes, put a pin in the Flying
Speaker 2: J for right now. Sure remember it. I'm going to
Speaker 2: take you up the coast to San Mateo, California, located
Speaker 2: south of San Francisco on the peninsula of the San
Speaker 2: Francisco Bay. It was there that the International Gem and
Speaker 2: Jewelry Show aka inter gem In Corporated GYM was held
Speaker 2: at the San Mateo County Events Center in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3: I do love a gem and stone show now, Jemmy
Speaker 3: and jewelry. I don't know a.
Speaker 2: Gem and stone show at a county fair ground.
Speaker 3: That's that's ideal.
Speaker 2: It's like some good.
Speaker 3: Stuff right day.
Speaker 2: Inter Gem is America's longest running direct to consumer jewelry show.
Speaker 3: I did not know that.
Speaker 2: You do?
Speaker 3: Do You learned that from QVC.
Speaker 2: I already knew it. That was that general. I don't
Speaker 2: have to cite it.
Speaker 3: You tell people that.
Speaker 2: I don't have to cight it because everyone just telling
Speaker 2: me the sky is blue like whatever. Started in nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty seven. Of course, it's also the largest exhibition of gems,
Speaker 2: minerals and jewelry in the world.
Speaker 3: I was just telling you that the other day. I
Speaker 3: can do it too.
Speaker 2: It's good jewelry stores, designers, brokers, they all do like
Speaker 2: a solid amount of business there.
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, So there's like their big dog events.
Speaker 2: It's supposed to be deal City Deal. So you go there.
Speaker 2: It's like deal bottom price ready for deal visitors. They
Speaker 2: is there in visitors shop directly from manufacturers, really wholesalers
Speaker 2: and design wholesalers direct to me. They sell jewelry loose gemstones, pearls, watches,
Speaker 2: antique in the stage, jewelry supplies, chains, charms, accessories, and zeron,
Speaker 2: so much more.
Speaker 3: Did you find this on an AM radio station?
Speaker 2: I just became like, this is something that like my
Speaker 2: grand you know, retired, maybe love to just poke around
Speaker 2: and go to random sun and eight years old and
Speaker 2: you and the two of you.
Speaker 3: You're going together. We get an air force. I got
Speaker 3: an air show there.
Speaker 2: Sometimes sometimes there are special exhibits at these stuff like
Speaker 2: famous people's jewelry.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, like Liberaci's rocks, Liberaci stones.
Speaker 2: You get the picture. Yeah you did. So they're having
Speaker 2: one of those shows in July twenty twenty two and
Speaker 2: San Mateo.
Speaker 3: Okay, twenty twenty two, and then a couple.
Speaker 2: Of days later it was moving down the road to
Speaker 2: Pasadena in southern California, in the southland, southern California.
Speaker 3: Their next big stop.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so rocks get from to get from San Mateo
Speaker 2: to Pasadena to you know, bedroom communities, most folks would
Speaker 2: take Interstate five five or as you southlander Angelino.
Speaker 3: Say the five because that's what it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, anywhere south Freeways.
Speaker 3: Were born in southern California, sorry, south of.
Speaker 2: The midpoint in the state. It's the five. We call
Speaker 2: it five.
Speaker 4: Yes, because it's much better to name highways and freeways
Speaker 4: after what they do and where they go.
Speaker 3: So that we're in state five High five. That's what
Speaker 3: they call it. Sacramento.
Speaker 2: Those cakes up in San Mateo sixteen of the jewelers
Speaker 2: and dealers. They loaded seventy three orange heavy duty bags,
Speaker 2: each weighing about one hundred pounds into a Brinx tractor.
Speaker 5: Trailer trucks has tractor truck, Yeah, big.
Speaker 2: Boy, like a long daddy. Not one of the armored trucks.
Speaker 3: Oh it's not an armored Is it armored itself?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 3: Interesting?
Speaker 2: What was in the bags?
Speaker 3: What's in the bags? What's in the bags?
Speaker 2: They they had sparkling gems, loose diamonds, no loose slu
Speaker 2: Rolex watches, the works, baby, one of a kind, dazzler's
Speaker 2: you name it, You name it. Arnold Duke, head of
Speaker 2: the International Gem and Jewelry Show, said of the Hall quote,
Speaker 2: the sheer quantity of gems and jewelry wouldn't fit in
Speaker 2: one car. My question is, what about a super room.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of headrooms. Did you try it? Arnold duke.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think. He don't speak so speaks for itself.
Speaker 2: He did not try, He didn't try and shove all
Speaker 2: that in the subie. At these shows, there are always
Speaker 2: like public address announcements reminding people to tell security if
Speaker 2: they see something fishy.
Speaker 3: S something, say something exactly.
Speaker 2: So the show's manager. Yeah, Brandy Swanson, she actually chased
Speaker 2: a guy down.
Speaker 3: Really. Yeah.
Speaker 2: He was wearing a surgical mask and an ear piece.
Speaker 2: It's twenty twenty two, so he's asking out of the ordinary.
Speaker 2: And he'd been sitting on this folding chair at the
Speaker 2: X Center, just watching everyone pack up, like the show
Speaker 2: was over and the public had all left. He's kind
Speaker 2: of like an.
Speaker 3: Air about it. And from a folding chair.
Speaker 2: You brought a chair because his legs get tired.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know. He's waiting for his dad to pick
Speaker 3: him up.
Speaker 2: She walks up to him, She's like, what are you
Speaker 2: all about? And he was like, I don't speak English.
Speaker 3: You're doing a great job a.
Speaker 2: Lot when I don't want to talk to strangers, perfect accent,
Speaker 2: and they're just like, oh, they ask you something, Oh
Speaker 2: I don't speak English.
Speaker 3: Oh you don't, it's too bad, And I walk away
Speaker 3: I'm gullible.
Speaker 2: Yeah no, I just told that. Does it work?
Speaker 3: What do people say when you say that?
Speaker 2: They just kind of stare at me, and I'm just
Speaker 2: I'm gone, baby, I'm already walking.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: If they're like, will you sign this petition? I don't
Speaker 2: speak English or I don't live here anyway.
Speaker 3: I got to try to live your lifestyle.
Speaker 2: You really should walk.
Speaker 3: Wearing shirts of Pablo Escobar. People think you notice that.
Speaker 2: I see you've got your publish shirt.
Speaker 4: Yeah, come through ridiculous crime.
Speaker 2: So Brandy she got the guy kicked out. He grabbed
Speaker 2: it girl, he grabbed his chair, and then she watched
Speaker 2: him meet up with another guy in a surgical mask,
Speaker 2: and the two of them scurried off.
Speaker 3: So she told some of the Brinks she's chasing his
Speaker 3: para doctors.
Speaker 2: They're on their way to the r But she tells
Speaker 2: the Brinks people like, it's not a big deal. That's
Speaker 2: what Brandy says happened. Brinks is like, she never told
Speaker 2: us anything. I'm signed with Brandon. So there was another
Speaker 2: dealer who went outside to get some air because I mean,
Speaker 2: like your head is swimming. After the dazzling Gems saw
Speaker 2: a car with blacked out windows, including the windshield and
Speaker 2: no plates. I see those all the time on five eighties.
Speaker 2: So whatever. The dealer tried to snap a picture of
Speaker 2: it on his phone, but the car peeled out and
Speaker 2: it was too late. Suspicious, but so then the security
Speaker 2: at the facility they also had to run in. They
Speaker 2: found a whole other guy with an earpiece, sunglasses and
Speaker 2: a ball cap. Not a celebrity hiding from the paparazzi.
Speaker 2: Oh that's what I was milling around outside looking at
Speaker 2: the loading dock security. It was like, get moving. He
Speaker 2: jumped into a Dodge Charger and took off, and the
Speaker 2: security guard managed to get a photo of the car.
Speaker 2: And I must say that if you drive a Dodge Charger,
Speaker 2: you're either up to no good or you need to
Speaker 2: get back on base before you leave expires. Zaren have
Speaker 2: you seen my broad brush? It's suppressive. The truck gets
Speaker 2: all loaded up, heads out. This was a tractor trailer,
Speaker 2: like I said, not an armored car. How was it secured?
Speaker 3: I'm just I'm so curious.
Speaker 2: How well is one padlock? Oh and a plastic security
Speaker 2: seal on the back doors?
Speaker 3: Are you kidding now? Like a loaded Jordan's.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, So the truck had two drivers, James Baby
Speaker 2: and Tandy Motley. And the truck. You know, while that
Speaker 2: wasn't armored, James and Tandy they were armed. So this
Speaker 2: is July tenth, late afternoon, early evening. The destination was
Speaker 2: the Brink storage yard around three hundred and seventy miles
Speaker 2: south in Los Angeles. All right, let's stop for some
Speaker 2: ADS's make us some money. Yeah, we have to save
Speaker 2: the Community Centers erin.
Speaker 4: Totally when we get back, save this flying jay.
Speaker 5: More when we get back, zaren.
Speaker 2: Okay, So James and James and this giant peach ak
Speaker 2: they got they they hop in the truck. You're heading
Speaker 2: from San Mateo.
Speaker 3: To Pasadena, La Pasadena.
Speaker 2: Three yeah, three hundred and seventy miles south. I guess
Speaker 2: it's La because the show's in Pasadena. But they're going
Speaker 2: to like a warehouse.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: So during the during the loadout, James and Tandy they
Speaker 2: noticed some dudes watching them, Like, did the guys just
Speaker 2: like to watch him work and stretch them glues? Tandy
Speaker 2: wasn't sure, so he goes over to Brandy. He goes
Speaker 2: to Brandy. He says, Brandy, you're a fine girl. What
Speaker 2: a good wife you'll be. But my life, my love,
Speaker 2: and my lady's the sea.
Speaker 3: I understand it completely, and so could say that.
Speaker 2: No, he said, Brandy, I don't like the looks of
Speaker 2: those guys. She's like, you know what, I agree with you.
Speaker 3: A fine girl, let me tell you.
Speaker 2: But then he's like, this is great, we've established we
Speaker 2: don't like that. But we got to get on the
Speaker 2: road by and like drive away. And then Brandy did
Speaker 2: that armpole thing and they hot the horn at her. So,
Speaker 2: in compliance with Department of Transportation regulations, James he went
Speaker 2: to sleep as soon as they left. Rude. I hate
Speaker 2: when I'm driving a long distance and my passenger falls asleep.
Speaker 2: Really cheeses me off. But I guess the FEDS want
Speaker 2: them to do this so that one is always well rested. Yes, so, James,
Speaker 2: he just climbed into the truck's sleeping berth and had
Speaker 2: himself a snooze cruise. Yeah, so, according to Ports, still
Speaker 2: out making into a cozy zone.
Speaker 5: Yeah, put you know, like.
Speaker 3: A little crouchet blank his grandma made him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, according to Little Dog Ports. The truck pulled in
Speaker 2: for a stop a little after midnight at the button
Speaker 2: Willow Rest Areack Button Willow Man, We've all been there.
Speaker 2: Tandy had to use a little boys room okay, the commode,
Speaker 2: and that was around one am. And they stopped again
Speaker 2: at two oh five, this time in La bec. I
Speaker 2: call foul on the timing, since fifty four miles down
Speaker 2: five from Button Willow to La Beet.
Speaker 3: That doesn't Work's a big old truck.
Speaker 2: It's not like a supercar.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's just doesn't work out. Even though I drive
Speaker 4: like a hundred. That doesn't work.
Speaker 2: All of the timing and the court documents was a mess,
Speaker 2: and it makes me wonder what they're covering up Zarin.
Speaker 2: What are the ranks using new technologies the government doesn't
Speaker 2: want us to know about.
Speaker 6: That's my question, only logical to the national security apparatus,
Speaker 6: but I think they usually have this point pretty good geolocators,
Speaker 6: so you'll be.
Speaker 2: Able to I really think that there's some teletransportation going
Speaker 2: on and they don't want us to know stuff they
Speaker 2: don't want you to know. Yeah, teleporting. Anyway, it's two five,
Speaker 2: and for whatever reason they stopped again.
Speaker 3: Okay, three oh five would work, but not to.
Speaker 2: Let's say it was five. I think that they got.
Speaker 4: Was this a day with one of those fallbacks bring
Speaker 4: forward days? You know what, the time you got an
Speaker 4: extra hour? This is July right.
Speaker 2: Here's what I think happened. I think that like the
Speaker 2: drivers misspoke and then it got picked up in news stories.
Speaker 2: And I don't think they were looking at like official still,
Speaker 2: and I think that they left a little earlier than
Speaker 2: they said they did. Anyway, So we've we've tracked James
Speaker 2: and Tandy as they cruised the highways of California. If
Speaker 2: you are from the bear La, as we said, you
Speaker 2: know this drive very well, very very well. I can
Speaker 2: picture the whole thing like I see me doing ninety
Speaker 2: down five. It's just as begs for you. Gotta let
Speaker 2: that pony run, nothing but scrub and cattle and the
Speaker 2: aqueduct around you. Sound asleep in the past, you see
Speaker 2: fuming and like muttering curses that in Tesla doing sixty
Speaker 2: in the left lane.
Speaker 3: I'm staying fresh in case I have to.
Speaker 2: Drive federal regulation. We've all been there, and now you're
Speaker 2: there there. I want you to bigger it. It's two
Speaker 2: five am on July eleventh, twenty two. You are a
Speaker 2: small teenage boy sitting cross legged on top of a
Speaker 2: garbage can, at the gas pumps at the Flying Jay
Speaker 2: in Lebeca, California. You aren't really a small teenage boy.
Speaker 2: You're a soul on a mission. You've lived thousands of
Speaker 2: lives over thousands of years, witness hundreds of events, beautiful moments,
Speaker 2: unspeakable tragedies, explosions of joy, low points of humanity. You
Speaker 2: close your eyes as a dancer spared by Djengis Khan
Speaker 2: after his sack of Sammarcan in twelve twenty, and you
Speaker 2: just open them as a young teen and an Afi shirt,
Speaker 2: dirty cargo shorts perched atop a garbage can in this
Speaker 2: strange wasteland. You're facing the Flying Jay truck stop. It's
Speaker 2: well lit, but that light doesn't do much to penetrate
Speaker 2: the dim edges of the truck lot. It's asphalt giving
Speaker 2: way to dry grass and the rolling hills beyond. Attached
Speaker 2: to the Flying Jay is a Denny's. It too, is
Speaker 2: brightly lit, a beacon to weary and hungry travelers. You
Speaker 2: hear a rumble and watch as a large tractor trailer
Speaker 2: truck enters the lot and parks to the side. It's unmarked,
Speaker 2: just plain white as the engine cuts and begins to
Speaker 2: click and hiss in the warm night. The driver gets out.
Speaker 2: He's bearded sturdy. He stretches his back and heads toward
Speaker 2: the Flying Jay. You can see into the Flying j
Speaker 2: and watch as he goes to stand in line at
Speaker 2: one of the food counters. And something catches your eye movement.
Speaker 2: A black car with blacked out windows slowly rolls up
Speaker 2: behind the truck. You can sense that this is not right.
Speaker 2: The evil and ill intent just hums off the car.
Speaker 2: You stay seated watching Two men hop nimbly from the
Speaker 2: car and make quick work of a padlock and plastic
Speaker 2: seal on the back of the trailer. Each tumble to
Speaker 2: the blacktop and skid away one by one. Gently. One
Speaker 2: man opens the back of the truck. You see piles
Speaker 2: and piles of orange bags. The men look at each
Speaker 2: other for a moment. Then one runs to the back
Speaker 2: of their car and pops the trunk. The other hops
Speaker 2: into the trailer and struggles to lift a bag. They
Speaker 2: whisper back and forth a bit, and then the one
Speaker 2: in the truck gingerly begins to lift bags, handing them
Speaker 2: down to his accomplice. At first he puts the bags
Speaker 2: in the trunk, but he soon runs out of room.
Speaker 2: He opens the back passenger door and starts tossing bags
Speaker 2: into the backs. Twenty minutes goes by. The men have
Speaker 2: run out of room in their car. You watched them
Speaker 2: transfer twenty four bags from the truck to their car.
Speaker 2: They hop into their ride and screech out, their tires
Speaker 2: gripping the hot tarmac. A few minutes go by, and
Speaker 2: you see the truck's driver return fountain, soda and bag
Speaker 2: of food in hand. The smell of the grease wafts
Speaker 2: your way, and you close your eyes while inhaling the scent.
Speaker 2: You don't remember the last time you ate. When you
Speaker 2: open your eyes, you see nothing but blue sky. It's midday.
Speaker 2: You're on your back. You hear hooves on dirt, the
Speaker 2: snort of horses. You're suddenly tipped upright, and you see
Speaker 2: that you're in a wagon. You're on a woman's lap.
Speaker 2: You're a baby. You wear bright embroidered fabrics. Those around
Speaker 2: you speak a language you haven't heard. A new life
Speaker 2: for you zerin and you won't find out what happened
Speaker 2: if that truck's.
Speaker 3: Not damn, that's I mean.
Speaker 4: I love the time tripping that was awesome. The kid
Speaker 4: got killed in the parking lot.
Speaker 2: No, no, he closed does it? He ate his size
Speaker 2: and he vanishes, he goes somewhere else.
Speaker 4: Is just a new spirit somewhere else, But it's something
Speaker 4: like reincarnation, which would imply.
Speaker 3: He doesn't necessitated.
Speaker 2: Blinks to reply, he's a soul.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's a soul hopper. I love that. The sammar
Speaker 3: can you have me there? Like, hey, my boy.
Speaker 2: So you little boy time traveler. You may not know
Speaker 2: what's going to happen. We we find out what happens
Speaker 2: or what went down. So Tandy, as we said, got
Speaker 2: out to get somebody.
Speaker 3: Sure he was famished, but the other driver stayed in
Speaker 3: the car.
Speaker 2: Snooze cise dudes roll up, stole twenty four bags of loot.
Speaker 2: Tandy came back out, saw the security tag on the ground.
Speaker 2: Apparently the thieves took the lock with him, and so
Speaker 2: Tandy like bangs on the side of the truck, wakes James.
Speaker 2: He hops out, apparently a.
Speaker 4: Deep sleeper because that thing that the trailer had to
Speaker 4: be rocking when they hop in the bag. They're moving
Speaker 4: stuff and there's multiple men hopping up and down.
Speaker 2: Like a face mass. Very noise canceling headphones and like
Speaker 2: aromatherapy reeks of lavender in the sleeping cabin. So they
Speaker 2: like they open up the bag and they're fearing the worst,
Speaker 2: and it was bad. The thieves had taken bags from
Speaker 2: the front of the trailer, which is where they had
Speaker 2: put the higher value stuff. Oh yeah, they didn't just
Speaker 2: take the bags of beads door. So and it looked
Speaker 2: like that they had seen the thieves had seen it
Speaker 2: get low. So the drivers they call the cops. LA
Speaker 2: Sheriff's deputies show up because they're just inside. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's bodycam footage available on Daily Mail. Their answers to
Speaker 2: the cops questions are kind of all over the place,
Speaker 2: Like they got the timing screwed up in some of
Speaker 2: the retellings, and they tried to estimate the amount of
Speaker 2: jewelry in the bags, but that's not really their business.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it seems like an inside job.
Speaker 2: Well, they got confused about some of the markings on
Speaker 2: the bag. The whole thing's messy, Like they're rattled. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and you know, they know they're hauling a lot of value.
Speaker 3: I mean, they're probably an to get fired.
Speaker 2: They know they're going to be scrutinized the few days. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and then there's got to be that feeling of like
Speaker 2: literally dodging a bullet because it was like a sneaky
Speaker 2: heist and not at the end of a barrel of
Speaker 2: a gun, so they didn't get got and maybe there's
Speaker 2: like the adrenaline of that.
Speaker 3: I thought maybe those guys were anywhere knows.
Speaker 2: Pepper, Yeah, so he needed some Like Carlstenior, there wasn't
Speaker 2: any CCTV coverage in the area of the lot where
Speaker 2: they were parked, which is that's also I'm also wondering
Speaker 2: about the footage from other big rigs because like in
Speaker 2: the bodycam footage, the guy who's in the truck park
Speaker 2: next to the Brinks rig comes out and it's like,
Speaker 2: what's going on off sir and the cops. Like anyone
Speaker 2: I think who spends a lot of time on the
Speaker 2: road these days seems to have dash.
Speaker 3: Cam, yes, especially hauling anything worthwhile or.
Speaker 2: That you have to prove that you weren't tru But
Speaker 2: so we just know that flying j didn't cover that
Speaker 2: part of the lot that maybe it scares away the lizards.
Speaker 3: They don't want to know what goes on over there.
Speaker 2: You no A witness at the Flying j said that
Speaker 2: he heard some of the guys speaking in a language
Speaker 2: other than English to each other, and he was like,
Speaker 2: it wasn't Spanish, because I would recognize that it was
Speaker 2: something else. He was probably all, they didn't say gelopa,
Speaker 2: no pepper or buenos dias, so it's not Spanish. They
Speaker 2: didn't mention the biblioteca. So James and Tandy may have
Speaker 2: seemed kind of hanky, but they weren't sending up major
Speaker 2: red flags when when they kind of investigators looked into
Speaker 2: their lives or like these dud.
Speaker 4: There's no weird bank accounts. Stand they're just kind of incompetent,
Speaker 4: Like you said, families.
Speaker 2: Like the slow He yeah, as you said, it did
Speaker 2: have the feel of an inside job though.
Speaker 3: Right he does.
Speaker 4: I mean all the all the facts, I mean, just
Speaker 4: the fact that they stopped and they did and where
Speaker 4: they did.
Speaker 2: There were thoughts that maybe someone at Brinks tipped off
Speaker 2: thieves as to the route. Sure, Tandy told the cops
Speaker 2: at the Flying Jay that maybe he was followed and
Speaker 2: it could have been thieves working on behalf of one
Speaker 2: of the jewelers running an.
Speaker 5: Insurance Oh whoa, I'm like.
Speaker 2: Slow down their Columbos road and let the pros look
Speaker 2: into that.
Speaker 3: Yeah right, He's like, then it's going to insurance fraud.
Speaker 3: From one of the fellow gymologists, I'm like.
Speaker 2: WHOA, Like, Tandy, you need to take a nap. So
Speaker 2: Brinks said that about eight point seven million dollars worth
Speaker 2: of goods had been stolen. Some of the jewelers and
Speaker 2: the dealers who lost their stuff sued Brinks. I mean
Speaker 2: the truck only had a padlock on it. Here's the problem.
Speaker 2: So Brink said it was eight point seven million, and
Speaker 2: the jewelers supported that in their initial paperwork, but in
Speaker 2: depositions a bunch of them admitted that they very often
Speaker 2: low balled the reported value to keep their insurance costs
Speaker 2: down on shipping. What yeah, so.
Speaker 4: They I would rather make less on a on a
Speaker 4: theft get paid back so they can make more down
Speaker 4: the line.
Speaker 2: It is estimated the actual value of everything stolen was
Speaker 2: around one hundred million dollars.
Speaker 3: What, yes, that's not that's not lowbill. That everything that
Speaker 3: was lying.
Speaker 2: And that's not everything that was in the truck. That's
Speaker 2: it makes it one of the largest jewelry thefts in
Speaker 2: modern American history.
Speaker 3: One of the largest American pieces.
Speaker 2: That they've shown pictures of are pretty impressive. Others, I
Speaker 2: think maybe it's for the best that they're gone.
Speaker 3: Really, yeah, they're kind of.
Speaker 2: No Brinks filed the countersuit. They wanted to limit the
Speaker 2: payout to only yes, sue me, sue you. They want
Speaker 2: they're like, look, you declared a value of eight point
Speaker 2: seven million. That's that's what we're paying. And they're like,
Speaker 2: you lied, that's a breach of.
Speaker 3: Contract, that's fraud.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's no way around it. Though. The heist
Speaker 2: destroyed some people in their businesses did yeah. In a
Speaker 2: statement upon filing suit, the plaintiff said, quote, everyone in
Speaker 2: our group has and emotionally and financially destroyed. We are
Speaker 2: lost and do not know what comes next in our lives.
Speaker 2: Whatever plans we all have for the future for our
Speaker 2: businesses and our families has evaporated in an instant.
Speaker 3: So that sucks for.
Speaker 2: Them, seriously. In their laws. Are the jewelers there and
Speaker 2: they're all small.
Speaker 3: Fanis imagine independent jewelers.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 3: You see it all together with their cases in like
Speaker 3: a downtown yes, like plaza.
Speaker 2: It's not every kid jewelers. Yeah, so they were looking
Speaker 2: for one hundred million dollars in damages and one hundred
Speaker 2: million in restitution from Brains. And they said that it
Speaker 2: was a Brinx employee who told them to undervalue the
Speaker 2: merch in their pickup manifest quote in order to save
Speaker 2: money because the cost of shipping would be too expensive
Speaker 2: if they declared the full value of their goods. According
Speaker 2: to CNN.
Speaker 3: And do they do they name this employee? Imagine you
Speaker 3: kind of have to have that person.
Speaker 2: I think there are a lot of them, said, so
Speaker 2: I think they're different.
Speaker 5: They're saying they were getting it.
Speaker 3: Oh, so that was kind of like.
Speaker 2: It's like a common snake industry. So CNN. Quote. One
Speaker 2: merchant told CNN thirty years of his life's work was
Speaker 2: stolen in the heist. He didn't share his name nor
Speaker 2: the name of his businesses with CNN over concerns of
Speaker 2: being targeted again. He expressed that he was quote emotional
Speaker 2: and speechless and wants quote brings to answer to him
Speaker 2: after losing some collectibles and unique pieces in the theft.
Speaker 2: So you think about it, it's twenty twenty two. COVID
Speaker 2: had done a serious number on retail. People got comfortable
Speaker 2: buying online. They didn't really want to come back from that.
Speaker 2: Jewelry is generally something that you want to buy in person.
Speaker 2: But it was still a struggle for brick and mortar.
Speaker 3: Sure.
Speaker 2: And then yeah, these dealers and the jewelers, they go
Speaker 2: to the expo. They're hoping to make these sales, keep
Speaker 2: the businesses going.
Speaker 3: To pay their rent back home.
Speaker 2: Uh. People go to the expos to try and get
Speaker 2: a good deal on the stuff. So there aren't like
Speaker 2: high rollers in the sense that they'll pay top dollar.
Speaker 2: The whole thing's kind of hard scrabble for these guys,
Speaker 2: and now it's gone. So according to the La Times, quote,
Speaker 2: one of the victims, Malki of forty seventh and fifth Incorporated,
Speaker 2: said that telling his children about the theft was the
Speaker 2: toughest thing he'd ever done. Quote. They always looked at me.
Speaker 2: I'm their hero, I'm the tough guy. I didn't want
Speaker 2: to break that image for them, so I told them
Speaker 2: everything's going to be okay, but for now we're going
Speaker 2: to have to make some changes. Inside. I was torn
Speaker 2: apart and devastated. The article goes on. Malki gave The
Speaker 2: Times an interview over lunch in Pasadena and kept his
Speaker 2: composure throughout the meeting until he detailed the conversation he'd
Speaker 2: had about the theft with his children. Malki struggled to
Speaker 2: contain his emotions as he shared his seven year old
Speaker 2: daughter's attempt to cheer him up after his disclosure of
Speaker 2: the crime. Quote she said, Dad, don't worry, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: have a lemonade stand. She gave me the biggest hug.
Speaker 4: Oh man, I know I've dealt with a bunch of
Speaker 4: these people because I've sold and been with people to
Speaker 4: recommend and go through the process with them selling loose diamonds.
Speaker 3: And they are not with people picture you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. You know, they're very usually family men, family
Speaker 3: women who've been running a business, working with often their
Speaker 3: husband or wife.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not flashy. Yeah, And we've talked about this before,
Speaker 2: like how we tell these stories. But there are victims
Speaker 2: on the other end of things, and that's you know
Speaker 2: why we like weed smugglers and those who steal from
Speaker 2: the violently.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, it's easier to write because like.
Speaker 2: No one's losing their life savings, no.
Speaker 5: One's destroyed, they're just embarrassed.
Speaker 2: Well not here. Yeah, people lost their livelihoods here. So
Speaker 2: the detail of the stolen inventory is just staggering. One
Speaker 2: guy lost more than thirteen hundred items that he'd put
Speaker 2: together over decades worth at least like twelve million dollars,
Speaker 2: and of course he admitted that he only shired it
Speaker 2: at a value of four hundred thousand dollars. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll hear more
Speaker 2: from these devastated jewelers. And then we've got a little
Speaker 2: bit of a twist. Nice zaren Okay, So we took
Speaker 2: a little break. There more of these jewelers and designers.
Speaker 2: There's one an eighty three year old woman, Amy Kit
Speaker 2: sing Lung. She operated Hawaiian Designs jewelry, and she said
Speaker 2: that her business was totally gone after losing seven hundred
Speaker 2: thousand dollars worth of stuff. And she said that it
Speaker 2: was only you know, in the manifest, she said it
Speaker 2: was only worth four hundred thousand because anything else would
Speaker 2: be too expensive to ship. And what's worse is that
Speaker 2: she was selling and shipping for others.
Speaker 3: Oh, she's now in the hook.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because she's eighty three. All these other older vendors
Speaker 2: and those who had like compromised immune systems who didn't
Speaker 2: want to go get exposed to COVID. Oh, they couldn't
Speaker 2: be at the show, so now their stuff's gone to Yeah,
Speaker 2: so three of the fourteen plaintiffs in the suit settled
Speaker 2: with Brinks. No word on for how much. Some wound
Speaker 2: up suing Flying J too. They said that there'd been
Speaker 2: a bunch of thefts at that location and they should
Speaker 2: have had better security, but yet reasonable. Well, February of
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, a judge ruled that the examples presented
Speaker 2: by the jewelers of thefts at that particular Flying J
Speaker 2: weren't like what happened with the Brinx truck. So there's
Speaker 2: no way for Flying J to anticipate such a thing.
Speaker 4: Okay, this is one of those you have to exhibit
Speaker 4: exercise control kind of thing.
Speaker 2: So you know, I mean, they could have had better
Speaker 2: camera setups whatever, But I mean especially because like think
Speaker 2: about the amount of merchandise and goods that sits in
Speaker 2: that lot at any young time, like trailers full of
Speaker 2: like electronics, old navy fashions, jelly sandals.
Speaker 3: You'll be breaking in.
Speaker 2: Vape cartridges, holiday buntings, decorative figurines, closed soap. Yeah, Zarin,
Speaker 2: there's no telling what's in those trucks.
Speaker 5: Diapers given time.
Speaker 2: Dipies go on the streets. Yeah, oh, they done so
Speaker 2: either way, eggs, eggs. The jewelers, those jewelers are devastated.
Speaker 2: Some of them closed their business, others struggled along. And
Speaker 2: it seemed to be just an unfortunate and brazen crime
Speaker 2: now in the past. But then just recently something changed changed, Sarain.
Speaker 2: We've had this wild ride together with this. It's one
Speaker 2: of the biggest jewelry heights in US history, right here
Speaker 2: in the Golden State. Can I tell you something though
Speaker 2: justice never sleeps, does it not? Does not? I am
Speaker 2: happy to report that on Tuesday, June seventeenth, twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five years after the US Attorney Central District of California
Speaker 2: unsealed an indictment. The day before June sixteenth, they'd executed
Speaker 2: a search warrant and had made arrests in the case
Speaker 2: the idea of the Brinx truck heist at the Flying.
Speaker 3: Jay Whoa, they stayed and.
Speaker 2: It turns out it was a crew that had been
Speaker 2: planning this for some time, like practicing their highest pulling out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I curious huh, that.
Speaker 2: Happened like just a few days ago, back in a
Speaker 2: time when we were recording this. So we just have
Speaker 2: the arrest. At some point in the future, will get
Speaker 2: a flurry of emails and dms telling us about the
Speaker 2: court case and the sentencing er acquittal all. Give an
Speaker 2: update then, and then we'll continue to get Instagram d
Speaker 2: ms about the results of the case for the next
Speaker 2: year or so, even after I give the updates such as.
Speaker 3: Life, Such is life. I was really hoping that the
Speaker 3: CHP was playing a prominent role on the bus. I
Speaker 3: love the HP. I know you do.
Speaker 2: You really do.
Speaker 3: We have to talk about that. I respect them, you
Speaker 3: love them.
Speaker 2: I do love them. I've been totally like treated poorly
Speaker 2: by the sage.
Speaker 4: That's why we're talking about you should not love people
Speaker 4: who treat you so poorly. I respect them. You can
Speaker 4: respect people who it's a different level. You got to
Speaker 4: stop licking them when you're around.
Speaker 3: That's where I have to apologize. Got a condition, It's.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeh, And I'm like, no leaky, leaky. Prosecutors alleged
Speaker 2: that there are seven co conspirators who carried out the
Speaker 2: theft Sven. Yeah, the men were each charged with conspiracy
Speaker 2: to commit theft from interstate Inflorence shipment.
Speaker 3: Could you repeat that more time?
Speaker 2: It was conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment.
Speaker 2: I got you so nice, I named it twice. Some
Speaker 2: are facing additional charges. Who are they?
Speaker 3: I just about asked? Do we ever get to the
Speaker 3: I could list their names their name, but you won't.
Speaker 2: But they've only been indicted, not like convicted.
Speaker 3: You don't want to.
Speaker 2: I don't want to put their names out there. If
Speaker 2: you're so inclined and you have too much time on
Speaker 2: your hands, you can go ahead and get to googling.
Speaker 3: Do we know where? Ruffian? Where they come from?
Speaker 2: This is exactly what I'm going to tell you, so
Speaker 2: thank you. I will say that they're all men, okay,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to give you their ages and their
Speaker 2: cities of residence. Ah Okay, So thirty one years old,
Speaker 2: Pasadenak thirty six years old, Boyle Heights, currently an inmate
Speaker 2: in Arizona State Prison. Okay forty one years old out
Speaker 2: of rialto.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm going with Hispanic.
Speaker 2: So far sixty out of Rampart Village neighborhood, Heights thirty
Speaker 2: three out of South La.
Speaker 3: Okay forty two.
Speaker 2: Forty two coming out of Uplands Oppland, Okay, and thirty
Speaker 2: six of the Westlake.
Speaker 5: Neighborhood of La Wow like Toronto's.
Speaker 2: So I will say that if the witness at the
Speaker 2: truck stop did actually see some of them there and
Speaker 2: heard them talking, then he was wrong about it not
Speaker 2: being Spanish that they.
Speaker 3: Spoke, yes, because it does certainly seem.
Speaker 2: They didn't say gilapino popper. You know as well as
Speaker 2: I that there are many dialects of Spanish.
Speaker 4: Suns, and like I couldn't even in countries like I
Speaker 4: learned in Colombian, I could start picking up party accents
Speaker 4: and be like, oh, you're from Medaine.
Speaker 2: Tell, And I couldn't tell from their last names. If
Speaker 2: there was a specific shared country of origin, might be
Speaker 2: the United States, to be honest, Texas, But Mexican Spanish
Speaker 2: different places is a lot different than Spain Spanish, which
Speaker 2: is different than Colombian Spanish, Cuban Spanish Spanish.
Speaker 3: It's crazy, and each of these they.
Speaker 2: Got their own slaying idioms anyway, back to the purpse.
Speaker 2: So if convicted, five of them got would get steeper
Speaker 2: charges and could face up to twenty years in federal
Speaker 2: prison for each robbery charge. All the defendants could be
Speaker 2: looking to at least five years for the theft conspiracy
Speaker 2: charge and then ten for the thefts quote. It was
Speaker 2: a long time coming, and there were times when the
Speaker 2: victims and members of the team wondered whether we see
Speaker 2: this success. That's an Assistant US Attorney Kevin Butler talking.
Speaker 3: So what happens with restitution and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Like I don't even think they touch on that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I mean, like, is there any hope that
Speaker 4: not that they'll recover the gen sell them.
Speaker 2: Some of the stolen jewelry was recovered during the searches. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and I feel like maybe they held onto the watches.
Speaker 2: That's just conjecture on my part. Liked it, Yeah, but
Speaker 2: I think it's great that they were able to get
Speaker 2: some of the stuff. Three years on, the Feds also
Speaker 2: found a bunch of cash, so there was like fencing
Speaker 2: going on. Most of the stolen goods are still missing,
Speaker 2: but there's still more search.
Speaker 5: Warrants to execute.
Speaker 3: Sure, I believe it may find more stuff. I believe
Speaker 3: that will find more people.
Speaker 2: May they might find the tackier pieces they couldn't move. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So the crews planning for the heist allegedly started at
Speaker 2: the International Gem and Jewelry Show in San Mateo, Tucson.
Speaker 2: So allegedly the main guy case the show for days
Speaker 2: starting on July eighth, the guy with the chair, yeah,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two. July eighth, he found out where they
Speaker 2: were going. Next, he watched the comings and goings. He
Speaker 2: checked out the wars. July tenth, three other guys allegedly
Speaker 2: cased the Brinx truck. When the truck left San Mateo,
Speaker 2: it began what the FEDS were calling, quote a complex
Speaker 2: choreography that ended up in lbec.
Speaker 3: Very fast and furious. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So there were different cars following the truck, taking turns,
Speaker 2: getting one to like subtly follow the load. Because the
Speaker 2: drivers when they were talking to the deputy showed.
Speaker 3: There's the headlights. If it's just the same headlights chasing
Speaker 3: around five.
Speaker 2: You're always gonna you can go a long way with
Speaker 2: like someone right behind you.
Speaker 3: Something as if you get off, they get off, you
Speaker 3: get off, the get off.
Speaker 2: I mean that would be weird, right, And so the
Speaker 2: guy the when he talked to the deputies Tandy, when
Speaker 2: he was like, I don't think we were followed. I
Speaker 2: didn't see anybody.
Speaker 3: So they were running rounds on them.
Speaker 2: And so they're like they're coming on and off summer
Speaker 2: stationed down the highway waiting for their turn to hop
Speaker 2: on tail the truck. They would call each other keep
Speaker 2: tabs like this, like mobile logistics operation. Oh, it doesn't
Speaker 2: say in the court filing how the crew gained access
Speaker 2: to the trailer. Yeah, I'm guessing like bolt cutters are
Speaker 2: like a grinder. Which even then, so if they had
Speaker 2: a grinder, like James, she didn't wake up. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: I think a grinder waking up, I think it's It
Speaker 2: doesn't mention if they're armed either.
Speaker 3: So anyway, locks are not difficult if it's just like no.
Speaker 2: No, Yeah, they broke into the truck.
Speaker 3: You have a little liquid oxygen and break that right open.
Speaker 2: And they emptied the bags into the car. And then
Speaker 2: the indictment says that they drove to East Hollywood and
Speaker 2: apparently they had no idea how much stuff they'd gained.
Speaker 3: Are you for real? They it just got lucky.
Speaker 2: They got was a major score. They had no idea.
Speaker 2: So they're just opening these bags being like, oh my god, if.
Speaker 3: You did a crime that was so good that you
Speaker 3: have to leave your life.
Speaker 2: Well, in the days afterwards, a bunch of them start
Speaker 2: deactivating their cell phone numbers.
Speaker 3: The best thing you could do is leave the country.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they must have been so spooked by this.
Speaker 4: Go to a little ranch in some place that speaks
Speaker 4: the language you speak and nobody.
Speaker 2: They didn't. Though they didn't. This wasn't their first heist though.
Speaker 2: Apparently in the months leading up to the back heist,
Speaker 2: a bunch of the crew members pulled off a series
Speaker 2: of thefts all across.
Speaker 5: San Bernardino County.
Speaker 2: So in some of those cases, the mos No, it's
Speaker 2: pretty much the same, like they would case and follow
Speaker 2: truck stops. Yeah, they went to truck stops similar places
Speaker 2: they would quote identify and rob steele, unlawfully take and
Speaker 2: unlawfully carry away a variety of merchandise. So, according to
Speaker 2: the indictment, yeah, they used multiple vehicles to follow trucks
Speaker 2: carrying shipments of electronics and other items until they would
Speaker 2: reach a stopping point, and then the alleged thieves would
Speaker 2: like rob or burgle the vehicles. Some would allegedly being
Speaker 2: very careful here, act as lookouts around businesses where the
Speaker 2: trucks were parked. Others just did straight up smash and
Speaker 2: grabs like bippins, and they'd had back to La, split
Speaker 2: up the goods, fence them with trusted connections.
Speaker 3: My pain a couple of guys who did this.
Speaker 2: And he did any of them. I should have listed
Speaker 2: the names.
Speaker 3: No, it's a common form of pirracy. Yeah, yeah so it.
Speaker 2: March second, twenty twenty two months before the Lebeck heist,
Speaker 2: prosecutors said that members of the crew used multiple vehicles
Speaker 2: to follow a truck carrying Samsung electronics from Ontario, California.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, so when.
Speaker 2: The vehicle stopped at a store in Ontario, crew members
Speaker 2: allegedly distracted the driver in the shop while some in
Speaker 2: the group stole the electronics. And I would love to
Speaker 2: know how they distracted the driver. Was like raise their
Speaker 2: skirt and show like a fish netted cat.
Speaker 3: They did a mime show with balloons.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were like someone like trips and falls and
Speaker 2: spills chocolate milk all over the floor and they're staring,
Speaker 2: comes to help and cries, just starts crying and.
Speaker 3: Beating up adults. That's what's going on in this town.
Speaker 2: That hall was worth almost two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3: That's much smaller. Yeah, but that's that's probably what they
Speaker 3: normally would get.
Speaker 2: That's what they're thinking. Yeah, so le's.
Speaker 3: After that they got.
Speaker 2: Another box truck, and that one ironically was carrying Apple
Speaker 2: air tags.
Speaker 3: A rough one. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The driver stopped for food in Fontana and the guys
Speaker 2: made their move. They walked away with fifty seven thousand
Speaker 2: dollars in air tags.
Speaker 3: Is that a lot? Yeah? I think I don't how
Speaker 3: much air tags?
Speaker 2: Like twenty five bucks? Okay, okay, Well they started to
Speaker 2: walk away because the driver caught him. Maybe they were
Speaker 2: air tags. So the driver caught the thieves. According to
Speaker 2: the indictment, one who had like a small knife, allegedly yelled,
Speaker 2: don't move or I will help you up.
Speaker 3: That's knife all night.
Speaker 2: Within the small knife. They had other failures. May twenty fifth,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, A bunch of them tried to drive
Speaker 2: to a truck stop in Fontana to steal from a truck.
Speaker 2: They used a crowbar to break in. It took off
Speaker 2: before they could grab anything.
Speaker 3: With a lock. Conversation, I guess really not that.
Speaker 2: Later that same day they went back to Fontana, this
Speaker 2: time they stole more. Samsung Electronics valued it a little
Speaker 2: more than fourteenth.
Speaker 3: Though good electronics. Elizabeth yeah So.
Speaker 2: Reached for comment. MALKI remember the jeweler, He told the
Speaker 2: La Times the indictment was quote awesome. Quote. I don't
Speaker 2: know what to say, he said. I'm absolutely shocked.
Speaker 3: He is a tough guy.
Speaker 2: He's a tough guy. In response to the charges, Brinks
Speaker 2: said the statement, quote, we deeply appreciate the efforts of
Speaker 2: law enforcement to resolve this matter. We will continue to
Speaker 2: watch the case closely.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, what a nothing.
Speaker 2: Stay absolutely nothing statement. So that's where we are on this.
Speaker 2: This is this is as far as this train goes. Zaren,
Speaker 2: what's your ridiculous takeaway.
Speaker 4: I'm still hung up on the idea that if you
Speaker 4: have a scored this big, it's kind of like the
Speaker 4: plot to No Country for Old Men, where you come
Speaker 4: along this this crazy money, you realize this life changing,
Speaker 4: but then you also realize someone's.
Speaker 3: Gonna come looking for Oh yeah.
Speaker 4: And I've got to hide from that person. And if
Speaker 4: it's crime like they are, it's going to be either
Speaker 4: law enforcement or fellow criminals either one. It's going to
Speaker 4: be people who are motivated, Yeah, can find you. So
Speaker 4: I feel bad for them in a certain way that
Speaker 4: they did so well. They did too well, something.
Speaker 2: That would have worked in like the seventies.
Speaker 3: Yes, without so much.
Speaker 2: There's so much technology where you can track them and
Speaker 2: like cameras, so we don't know based on these search horms.
Speaker 2: We don't know what like dash cam footage they had,
Speaker 2: you know with the jewelry. Now they do like microscopic lasers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, then grave.
Speaker 2: Engraving on stuff that you can.
Speaker 3: Track holographic marks that are like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's like there, there's it's so hard to
Speaker 2: get away with this kind of thing, and we leave
Speaker 2: a digital footprint everywhere we go. So anyway, I really
Speaker 2: do want to get a burner phone. I don't know why.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know you want to get a flip phone
Speaker 3: or burner phone. Away, Elizabeth.
Speaker 2: My takeaway is that I saw that it's it's interesting
Speaker 2: to tell a story like this where I was looking
Speaker 2: at it. I've been like kind of looking at it
Speaker 2: for a bit of this is a good story, but
Speaker 2: like it wasn't fully enough, and then all of a
Speaker 2: sudden these arrests came in. I was like I pounced
Speaker 2: on it. Like I can't.
Speaker 3: They got them.
Speaker 2: They got them, Dave. I think we could do with
Speaker 2: a talk bag.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, I want.
Speaker 2: My name's Ann.
Speaker 7: I've been listening to you since the beginning. I just
Speaker 7: really appreciate you, guys. I must say, I am listening
Speaker 7: to the American Beatles episode and this is probably the
Speaker 7: most voices I have ever heard Zarin use, which is
Speaker 7: great entertainment. Thanks for a good job, everybody, ridiculous crime staff.
Speaker 7: I forgot to mention I was nine years old when
Speaker 7: the Beatles, the British Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Speaker 7: We just thought they were kind of odd. Anyway, Thanks you.
Speaker 2: I love the nine year old perspective on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, likes love this, but I don't know. I see
Speaker 3: a mop haired It's just a little strange.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. I love that you're getting some props for
Speaker 2: your voices.
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: And I'm trying to do non offensive accents when I
Speaker 4: do accent, so if ever, I apologize to those I've
Speaker 4: offended in the past. And I just know that for
Speaker 4: the most part, I try to stick to accents that
Speaker 4: I have family connections to, like I have the genes
Speaker 4: like if I'm doing an accent, I'm like, honestly, I'm
Speaker 4: one of your people.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I.
Speaker 2: Love that, right, that's a good ethos to have.
Speaker 3: Can I do that? Like? I'm French too?
Speaker 2: Why not?
Speaker 3: Good at it?
Speaker 2: But that's it for today. You can find us online
Speaker 2: at ridiculous Crime dot com. Did you know fun fact
Speaker 2: about our website?
Speaker 3: No? I don't.
Speaker 2: It's on the e PA's number three why super fun site?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, without you.
Speaker 2: We're on blue Sky and Instagram Ridiculous Crime. We're also
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Speaker 2: reach out. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and
Speaker 2: Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by Dave Cousten. A Friend
Speaker 2: in the Diamond Business starring Annals Rutger as Judith. Research
Speaker 2: is by Vintage Rolex restorer Marissa Brown. The theme song
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