There are many robberies taking place worldwide, and if we reduce them to those occurring in the United States, we still have many to cover and know about.
Among them, The Dunbar Armored Robbery is not only the most popular one because people found it interesting, but it is the largest cash robbery in the country.
Therefore, you can expect everyone to be interested in the story even after decades. We have to admit we are a bit too passionate about reviewing and researching heists and crimes related to money and other elements and aspects.
This is not the exception, and we would be sinners if we didn’t take the time to read about The Dunbar Armored Robbery, considering that every American should know about it as general and country culture.
If you are here to join the group and know something about it or maybe everything, we are ready to take you through the entire journey and ensure you aren’t ignorant about the topic anymore.
A Robbery Recorded in History
Not many heists or criminals get lost too quickly or spend too much time outside of prison when the USA is the one affected by it.
We are trying to say that robbers are usually caught in a few days, weeks, or months, and there are very few cases when those robbers actually become real heists.
Not only because of their actions but rather the milestone of committing an almost perfect crime.
One of those cases is definitely the Dunbar Armored Robbery. But what is it all about to the point of people having to know about it if they don’t want to miss part of the culture in their country? Here’s the answer.
A gang of thieves broke into the Dunbar Armored facility, Los Angeles, California, on September 12, 1997.
The Dunbar company was known for its armored car services, and the LA facility was a major storage location. The facility housed a lot of cash, with most of it being intended for ATMs in Los Angeles.
A man named Allen Pace III was Dunbar’s regional safety inspector. Pace must have felt overwhelmed by all the cash at the time he thought to commit the crime.
He spent a lot of time studying the layout and security features at the Dunbar depot, photographed the building, knew the guards’ schedules, and timed the security cameras.
It took a lot of planning, and he needed people to commit the crime, which is why he recruited five of his friends to help him pull off his plan.
Before committing the crime, the group met at a party on September 12 and then departed to Dunbar.
They then used Pace’s knowledge to sneak in from the outside. They were then waited for guards to go on break before overpowering them and tying them up.
They grabbed the cash bags of the highest denominations while the security camera recordings were destroyed to avoid leaving evidence and successfully escaping.
Were They Caught? The Aftermath
Pace and his friends robbed about $18.9 Million and managed to evade capture for more than two years.
How was it possible?
When the robbers were done in the Dunbar company, they drove to the apartment of one defendant, changed into formal clothes, and returned to the party where they met.
After the robbery, investigators found a plastic lens for the taillight of a Dunbar truck. It was not part of any company vehicles.
The FBI’s Washington forensics laboratory was able to match the lens with those on U-Haul trucks 14 feet long.
The clue proved to be of little use until an informant identified Eugene Lamar Hill Jr. of Bellflower as the suspect in the robbery. Still, before this happened, it has already been two years since the incident.
Detectives quickly discovered that Hill had rented a 14 foot U-Haul truck one day prior to the heist and returned it the next day it took place.
When Hill was arrested, he was found with stack money wrappers that were identical to those used in the Dunbar robbery.
Hill confessed to the crime and led authorities towards other suspects due to the pressure and with the charges falling on his shoulders only.
When the authorities caught the rest of the people involved who were hiding in different places, the trial and process started.
Pace, who was defending himself during the trial, denied any involvement in the robbery.
He claimed that he was being framed by one defendant “because I was playing with his wife.”
Fortunately, his father, Steve, testified against him.
Prosecutors claimed that the elder Boyd laundered $177.000 in cash for his son using the business he owned by the time.
Steve Boyd stated that his son initially claimed that the money was from a drug deal. However, he later admitted that the money was actually stolen from Dunbar Armored depot.
Three days of deliberation were required before the jury returned its guilty verdicts.
Allen Pace was sentenced to 24 years in prison, while the father of one of the suspects, Steve that we previously mentioned, had a deal with the court.
One crew member was sentenced to 17 years, and the other four involved received from 7 to 10 years.
Unfortunately, to this date, most of the cash stolen went missing since only $5 million were recovered.
No one knows how the gang spent all the millions, where they saved it, or if they shared it with someone else they met. Thus, this remains a mystery.
Why It Remains as the Largest Cash Robbery
Besides the fact that it has been the most money stolen from in cash, the fact that most of it were never found even when people continue searching for it makes the heist the largest one in American history.
Of course, internationally, other robberies can take the cherry on the cake when it comes to how much was stolen, either in cash or other formats of money.
But when it comes to the USA and what we know about cash and almost a perfect crime, the Dunbar Armored robbery definitely remains at the top, for now.
If it wasn’t for the informant and the mistake of the U-haul truck, those men would have never been found, most people suppose.
In our opinion, the plan was clean and without many possible fails.
However, they should have dealt with the truck and records in a better way, and maybe, they would have never been caught since 1997 when the robbery occurred.
Finally, the background of the men involved isn’t that well-known. Not much information about their childhood, early years, or some details we could share were disclosed.
In fact, their lives are very “simple,” considering the crime they committed with all the money.
Now, here, we are not trying to give you ideas with all this article. Keep your money sources clean!
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