A man named Julio Nivelo, 53, is suspected of stealing the bucket of gold in Manhattan
With sticky fingers and a sturdy back, a thief absconded with 86 pounds of gold in late September. Moments before the man shuffled away, the precious metal had been sitting unattended in a bucket in the back of a Loomis International armored truck, its rear doors open wide. The man struggled with the gold's heft a for few busy blocks while fleeing the scene.
In November, police released the video footage of the Sept. 29 incident. Guards parked the armored car along Manhattan's 48th Street, a crowded area near Rockefeller Center. While the two guards were distracted and talking by the vehicle's front, the man struck from the rear. He filched the five gallon metal bucket out of the back and took off down the sidewalk as fast as he could waddle.
At the time, the police described the thief as a Hispanic man in a black vest and green shirt, aged between 50 and 60 years, Reuters reported. The individual had fled, authorities believed, to Florida.
More recently, police released updated information: A man named Julio Nivelo, 53, is the suspect, the New York City Police Department said Tuesday. He is thought to be in the Los Angeles area, no longer in the Sunshine State, with gold in tow.
Nivelo has had previous run-ins with the law. A 5-foot, 5-inch and 155-pound thief who operates out of New Jersey, Nivelo's aliases include Luis Toledo and David Vargas.
"He is, I would say, a professional burglar, a professional thief," New York Police Detective Martin Pastor told New York Daily News. Authorities had arrested Nivelo before, subsequently deporting him to his home country of Ecuador a total of four times.
The New York Times reported that Loomis fired the two guards, but the men had been cleared of any suspicion. It was not an inside heist, officials said - just a theft of opportunity. Police believe the thief did not know at the time what he had taken. Originally depicted as gold flakes, the valuable jewelry scraps were in fact melted into lumpy bars, the Times reported, and kept in buckets for transportation.
Considering the brazen nature of the job, and the stolen goods - a pot o' gold - the thief caught a fair bit of attention along with the $1.6 million. (One police photo shows a grinning Nivelo on a bicycle with a prop E.T. in the basket.)
The effort to find man has been dubbed, reportedly, "Operation Lucky Charm."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In November, police released the video footage of the Sept. 29 incident. Guards parked the armored car along Manhattan's 48th Street, a crowded area near Rockefeller Center. While the two guards were distracted and talking by the vehicle's front, the man struck from the rear. He filched the five gallon metal bucket out of the back and took off down the sidewalk as fast as he could waddle.
At the time, the police described the thief as a Hispanic man in a black vest and green shirt, aged between 50 and 60 years, Reuters reported. The individual had fled, authorities believed, to Florida.
More recently, police released updated information: A man named Julio Nivelo, 53, is the suspect, the New York City Police Department said Tuesday. He is thought to be in the Los Angeles area, no longer in the Sunshine State, with gold in tow.
Nivelo has had previous run-ins with the law. A 5-foot, 5-inch and 155-pound thief who operates out of New Jersey, Nivelo's aliases include Luis Toledo and David Vargas.
"He is, I would say, a professional burglar, a professional thief," New York Police Detective Martin Pastor told New York Daily News. Authorities had arrested Nivelo before, subsequently deporting him to his home country of Ecuador a total of four times.
The New York Times reported that Loomis fired the two guards, but the men had been cleared of any suspicion. It was not an inside heist, officials said - just a theft of opportunity. Police believe the thief did not know at the time what he had taken. Originally depicted as gold flakes, the valuable jewelry scraps were in fact melted into lumpy bars, the Times reported, and kept in buckets for transportation.
Considering the brazen nature of the job, and the stolen goods - a pot o' gold - the thief caught a fair bit of attention along with the $1.6 million. (One police photo shows a grinning Nivelo on a bicycle with a prop E.T. in the basket.)
The effort to find man has been dubbed, reportedly, "Operation Lucky Charm."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
