How would criminals resell jewelry stolen in the Brink's heist? Jewelers told DanielNMiller and LAcrimes about the dark arts of the business: gold can be melted down, obscuring its source, and diamonds can be recut, erasing identifying marks.
A 298-mile drive in 2 hours and 4 minutes? The chronology described in a legal filing and law enforcement documents has added to the mystery surrounding the multimillion-dollar jewelry heist from a Brink’s truck.
The Flying J Travel Center, just west of the 5 freeway in Lebec, was the site of a Brink’s big rig jewelry heist in July. Once jewelry has been broken down into its component parts, gold, platinum and silver can be melted and reconstituted as untraceable bars. Diamonds and other precious stones can be polished and re-cut to remove tiny inscriptions and other marks that tie them to registries kept by gemological laboratories.
are the industry standard. Stones authenticated by the GIA receive 10-digit numerical inscriptions that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Morisseau said the organization’s reports on diamonds are so detailed — the GIA tracks many measurements and characteristics, including the size, nature and placement of so-called inclusions — that it can identify a stone whose inscription has been removed and even its dimensions modified.“If you had a three-carat diamond and cut it down to a one-carat diamond, that would possibly evade our flagging — but you’d have a diamond that weighed far less,” Morisseau said.
An evidence photograph provided by the FBI shows a sampling of jewelry taken in the Flying J heist in July.“You are taking a big chance taking $100 million of stuff in suitcases,” he said. “Do they put it on a private plane? Customs does check those. Where do you take that kind of load? It’s a mega load.”
Still, there are some unscrupulous watch dealers willing to take on timepieces they know to be stolen, Lawton said. “I know enough jewelers that would take those Rolexes so quickly your head would spin,” he said. “Listen, I used to rob them all the time; I used to get a flat $2,000.”
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