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LAPD, federal investigators look to DNA, fingerprints, video to help crack multimillion-dollar heist

Officials say the thieves that stole about $30 million from a money storage facility seemed to have entered through the roof; investigators are requesting home security footage from the surrounding neighborhood

Garda burglary

LOS ANGELES, CA- APRIL 04: Thieves made off with as much as $30 million in an Easter Sunday burglary from the Gardaworld building on Rexford Street in Sylmar. Published news reports said they entered through the roof. Photographed on Thursday, April 4, 2024. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Myung J. Chun/TNS

By Richard Winton
Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Investigators probing the heist of up to $30 million from a vault in the San Fernando Valley on Easter Sunday have scrubbed the scene, searching for fingerprints, DNA evidence and other materials, according to law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation.

Federal and local officials have also been working to collect any surveillance or home security video in the suburban Sylmar neighborhood where the heist — considered one of the biggest in L.A. history — occurred.

The sources declined to say what evidence investigators have collected. No arrests have been made.

The thieves targeted a Gardaworld building on Roxford Street in Sylmar, accessing a vault where huge sums of cash were stored. The Canada -based security giant has not responded to requests for comment.

Officials said the burglars appeared to enter through the roof.

At least one alarm was triggered during the crime, but it was not connected to local law enforcement, according to a source familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The operators of the business did not discover the massive theft until they opened the vault the day after Easter.

There was a hole in the side of the building covered by a piece of plywood. A law enforcement source confirmed to The Times there was an effort to breach the side, but it was not clear how that area was used in the heist.

Some neighbors reported hearing a strange mechanical sound — a kind of rhythmic whirring — that weekend. Others said the Wi-Fi in the area was out. It’s unclear whether either was connected to the heist.

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com.
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