Pics released of suspect in bucket of gold theft
Police in New York City have identified a suspect in the case of a $2.1-million bucket of gold bound for Canada that was stolen from the back of an idle armoured truck in Manhattan, releasing an unorthodox set of photos that include the alleged thief posing with statues of Pope Francis and Whoopi Goldberg at a Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.
The suspect is 53-year-old Julio Nivelo, who detectives believe has been traversing the U.S. on the lam for the past three months, first fleeing New York City for Florida after the September theft, before heading to Los Angeles.
“I’m going to come and get you,” Det. Martin Pastor said in a local NBC newscast, speaking directly to the alleged thief.
“He can run as far as he can and we will find him.”
The unmarked bucket of gold flakes was supposed to be delivered to a refinery in Brampton, Ont., Pastor said. Instead, a short man in a dark vest wandered up to the unguarded truck, grabbed a 39-kilogram bucket and carted it five blocks — about a kilometre and a half — before getting in a van.
The back hatch of the truck was left open and, for a moment, unattended while one of the guards made a delivery and the other walked to the front of the truck.
Kevin Harrington, a former NYPD deputy chief working as a consultant for Loomis, the armoured truck company, said Wednesday the two guards “were doing their rounds, became complacent and … it created an opportunity for theft.”
Both guards have since been fired. But both Harrington and Pastor stressed the guards were not under investigation.
At first, Pastor said he believed the passerby just saw an opportunity and “got lucky” with what he was able to make off with. After identifying the suspect, however, Pastor said it now appears to be the work of “a professional.”
Nivelo, an Ecuadorean deported several times and living in the U.S. illegally, has a history of convictions for burglarizing trucks, police said.
“He was malingering in the area for a few minutes,” Pastor told the National Post, “so he was definitely watching them to see what they were doing.”
Police released photos hoping someone would recognize him and tip off investigators.
The photos show Nivelo on an apparent tourist’s jaunt around New York, in Washington Square Park and at a wax museum. Pastor wouldn’t comment on how he obtained the photos, except to say it was through “patient, good old-fashioned investigative work.”
The Brampton facility expecting the gold flakes is reportedly run by Asahi Refining. An Asahi spokesman declined to answer questions about the theft on Wednesday, saying he could not comment “on anything that’s going in and out of our refineries.”
“(The guards) were doing their rounds, became complacent and ... it created an opportunity for theft” — Kevin Harrington