Two cargo handlers at Los Angeles International Airport are alleged to have stolen four gold bars worth $56,000 each after a box of 25 bars went missing during a transit stop. Marlon Moody, 38, and Brian Benson, 35, both of South Los Angeles, were arrested by the FBI on Tuesday morning following a federal grand jury indictment.
Last April, the Toronto Dominion bank arranged for 2,000 gold bars worth a total of $112 million to be moved from a secure facility in Australia to a new location in New York City. Employees from Brinks packed the bars in 80 boxes and had them loaded onto a Singapore Airlines flight to the United States.
According to recently unsealed court documents, the flight made a stopover in Los Angeles where the boxes were unloaded and moved to Singapore Airlines’ cargo warehouse. The gold was later moved again to a secure facility outside of the airport where Brinks conducted an audit and discovered that one of the boxes had gone missing.
The indictment alleges Moody, who works for Alliance Ground International, found the box near the Singapore Airlines warehouse and placed it on a belt loader vehicle that he drove to a seperate warehouse where he removed four of the bars worth a total of $224,000.
Moody was picked up in a company van by Benson and the two men discussed the find via text message because other employees were in the van. “That’s big $ lol,” Benson allegedly wrote in one text message. He was later given one of the gold bars by Moody.
The next day, however, the two are accused of sending each other more text messages in which they discussed the fact that the theft had been reported. Benson told Moody that he believed it had been “an inside job” and Moody said they should “stash the s**t” during the text conversation.
“Your boy goin to jail,” Moody allegedly wrote.
Moody allegedly gave one of the gold bars to a relative on May 4, 2020 “and directed the family member to exchange the gold bar for a vehicle and/or money,” according to the indictment. He is also accused of burying the remaining two gold bars in his backyard.
The gold bar taken by Benson was allegedly found in a bedroom at his home.
The two men have been charged with conspiracy and theft of interstate and foreign shipment. If found guilty, they would face a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.
