FONTANA, Calif. (Oct. 8, 2015) – It sounds like something out of a movie: a brazen robbery of more than $1 million from a bank ends up hidden away for more than a year, only to be found buried in the thief’s backyard.
Investigators said the driver of an armored truck conspired with a co-worker to pick up money from a Bank of America location and leave it in a trash can at a taco restaurant. Both worked for Loomis, according to KTLA. They carried out the plan on June 27, 2014, according to court documents. A third party picked up the cash.
The drivers, Cesar Yanez and Aldo Esquivel Vega, were arrested in November. The question remained: what happened to the money?
Federal agents discovered the answer—at least part of it—Wednesday, when they found about $600,000 buried in the backyard of a home in Fontana, Calif., where Yanez lived.
About $300,000 remained missing, investigators said.
Yanez was sentenced to nearly five years in prison in August, court documents show. Vega has not yet been sentenced, KTLA reported. Legal proceedings for other co-conspirators, including Yanez’s wife, are ongoing.
