Truck crew says carsickness led to $4.8M heist of gold bars

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JONATHAN DREW

WILSON, N.C. (AP) — The crew of a truck carrying a load of gold bars had just pulled off the interstate in North Carolina when, the two men told police, a seemingly ordinary episode of carsickness turned into a multimillion-dollar heist.

On Wednesday, authorities said they were suspicious that the roadside robbery might have been an inside job.

As soon as the guards stopped on the shoulder because one of them wasn't feeling well, three robbers drove up in a cargo van and confronted them at gunpoint, yelling "Policia!" and ordering the crew to lie on the ground. The robbers tied their hands behind their backs and marched them into nearby woods, authorities said.

The thieves then set out orange traffic cones while they gathered up 275 pounds of gold bars worth $4.8 million and fled, leaving the two guards stranded along Interstate 95 as drivers zoomed by.

FULL story at link.



This image released Wednesday, March 4, 2015, by the Wilson County, N.C. Sheriff's Office, shows a composite sketch by investigators of one of the suspects in a heist of millions of dollars in gold bars from a truck on a North Carolina interstate highway on Sunday, March 1. Authorities have said that three armed robbers drove up while the truck was having mechanical problems and stole 275 pounds of gold bars worth $4.8 million. (AP Photo/Wilson County Sheriff's Office)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150304/us--gold_truck_robbery-3f8ded3cd0.html

[AngryAmish]

1. This is getting interesting.

[nc4bo]

3. indeed.

When I first saw the story on our local news, the words "inside job" were flashing red before my eyes.

We shall see where this goes.

[JDDavis]

4. I'm willing to bet this is an inside job, too.

What kind of guards are hired to transport valuables over long distances if they get carsick?

And why would a company name itself "Transvalue" if they transport valuables? Sounds like the name would invite robbery, especially if it were on the outside of the truck. I hope they are smart enough to label their trucks with signs saying something like "Manure Transport Services".

[AngryAmish]

7. Totally inside job.

Theory 1? Piping a little exhaust into cabin. Not likely, deisel smells, even today.

Theory 2? Crew in on it. Background. This is the sort of thing that only works with people either in the military with ypu or blood relatives. How long on job?

Theory 3? Nothing taken, insurance job.

[JDDavis]

14. We must both watch too many mystery stories. I agree 100%

Definitely inside job.

Four million dollars in untraceable gold split 4 ways is sounds like a good deal for any armoured transport workers.

Drivers of trucks like that do NOT stop by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

Trucks like that have cell phones and two-way radios and GPS and, if one of them becomes ill, they call police/EMT for assistance before stopping, especially for something as minor as car-sickness, they would continue on to a well-lit area and be met by police/EMT's.

Real armoured car robberies usually end up with both driver/guards killed, not left by the side of the road tied up with zip-ties or whatever.

Track the phones and the associations of the two driver/guards for the last 1-30 days and the evidence will come forward.

This whole robbery job smells like rotting fish, and I'm not even in law enforcement.

[7962]

22. Remember the last time this happened in N.C.? Read THIS story:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.true-crime/050yqdAlCH0

[DebJ]

24. Wow. Thanks. Nice interesting read on a snow bound day! n/t

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

25. Just waterboard the guy that "got sick".

[AngryAmish]

9. This reads like a Parker novel.

And I really love Parker novels.

There is an armored car garage within a golf drive of my house. Every time I drive past I try to figure out how to knock it over. A decade in, still no dice.

[rocktivity]

13. I don't fanatasize about robbing armored vehicles

Last edited Sun Jul 5, 2015, 06:49 PM - Edit history (1)

I fantasize about being caught in the crossfire of someone else's fantasy about robbing an armored vehicle!


rocktivity

[WorseBeforeBetter]

20. Yeah, I'm having a tough time with that, too.

And aren't there policies about using barf bags, especially if it were the passenger getting sick? If it were the driver, they could have switched seats quickly and kept on driving. If the engine were running, couldn't they just have floored it and gotten the hell out of there, while calling the police? I mean, it's an armored truck, FFS.

[JDDavis]

21. No doubt, there are systems and protocols in place when a driver/guard gets sick.

#1. DO NO STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!

#2 Do call local law enforcement, obtain instructions and directions as to where to be intercepted by police/EMT's etc.

3# Just throw up out the window or some other way.

[underpants]

2. Still not buying it

Nothing wrong with the truck?
The robbers have orange cones and zip ties? Okay the could be a construction related crew..... but they were just there that fast?
They got out of the truck without their weapons? Having been in the Army where WHERE IS MY WEAPON?!? is a constant you don't do anything before thinking of getting your weapon.

No one on 95 noticed a van behind an Armored Truck?

[In_The_Wind]

5. Liar. Liar. Pants on fire.

[mercuryblues]

6. My theory

If they aren't involved in it, they were poisoned somewhere along the line. Somebody knew about this shipment and had this planned.

[Itchinjim]

8. Inside job. And not a very good one.

[YOHABLO]

10. No question an inside job.

[Downwinder]

11. Need that border fence to keep Mexican gangs from

cross border robberies. Where's out security?

Fund Homeland Security.

[rocktivity]

12. Authorities SUSPECT an inside job?

If I may be so bold as to suggest that these "authorities" start their questioning of the crew with the one who GOT carsick...


rocktivity

[jberryhill]

15. I could have helped them out here

They didn't think they needed a better story than this?

Folks, look. If anyone reading this post is planning a large gold heist, send me a pm when you have your plan together, and I'll be happy to critique and improve it.

All I ask is 5% or $100k flat fee up front.

Really.

I could have really been of value here.

References provided on request.

[JDDavis]

17. Yeah, I'm gonna request references from you first.

And you're gonna tell me about all those armoured car heists you've planned and had carried out successfully, right?

LOL

Carsickness from experienced long-distance driver/guards?

A better story would have been a flat tire, with a simple nail in the tire, forcing them to stop at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

[jberryhill]

23. Subject to appropriate terms and conditions

And how are you going to get the nail in the tire at the right place?

[jberryhill]

16. Witness Protection Program....

Make a deal, guys.

[onethatcares]

18. they should have

waited until gold went up in value. at todays prices they won't get near as much at the local gold buyer

[Cryptoad]

19. Something stinks in Denmark,,,,,,,,,, nt

[Monk06]

26. Car sickness was the best the could come up with?

Maybe the should have used this story.