The jewel heist that federal authorities described as the largest in U.S. history felt cinematic in its brazenness: In 2022, thieves followed a Brink’s armored truck from a jewelry show near San Francisco to an isolated mountain rest stop in Lebec, Calif., some 300 miles south, then made off with $100 million worth of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, gold and luxury watches.
Now, one of the seven men accused of playing a role in the plot may never face trial. A few weeks ago, federal immigration authorities deported the man, Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores, to Ecuador without prosecutors’ knowledge, according to court filings this month.
A lawyer for Mr. Flores has asked the court to dismiss the charges, which carry a potential prison term of up to 15 years, arguing that the government chose to forgo prosecution by deporting him.
“The Government cannot now have it both ways,” the lawyer, John D. Robertson, wrote in his motion for dismissal. Mr. Robertson also noted that despite the court’s grant of bail to Mr. Flores last summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately took him into custody, violating his rights.
Prosecutors countered that a civil immigration process is supposed to take place separately from a criminal prosecution. In a filing, they wrote that Mr. Flores essentially chose between two options: Stay in the United States and risk being deported even after serving a lengthy prison sentence, or “functionally self-deport, and avoid criminal exposure.”
“He chose the latter,” prosecutors wrote.
A spokesman for the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment on the case. Mr. Robertson did not respond to a request for comment.
Amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, legal experts have said that the deportation of criminal defendants before their cases finish moving through the courts has become increasingly common. That can rob crime victims of justice and closure, prosecutors say.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to questions about Mr. Flores’s case and why prosecutors were not consulted about his deportation.
But Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the department, previously told The Times when discussing similar deportations of accused criminals: “We think victims would rather their assailants not roam America’s streets.”
Legal experts said that Mr. Flores’s deportation, which was first reported by The Los Angeles Times, also highlighted a striking lack of coordination between different parts of the federal government.
“I have never encountered a situation like this,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School and a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. “Certainly, I’ve seen cases where people have been deported, but never behind the back of prosecutors.”
She said that, typically, the deportation of a defendant is part of the resolution of the case — and such a resolution would be unlikely in a case of this magnitude.
Mr. Flores and the six other men were charged last year with theft and conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment.
At that time, three years after the heist, prosecutors heralded the indictments as a major breakthrough in a case to which federal authorities had devoted enormous time and resources. One of the men who was charged was tracked down by law enforcement officers in Panama. Another was in prison in Arizona for an unrelated conviction.
Prosecutors and Mr. Flores’s lawyer agreed that he was a legal permanent resident of the United States living and working in Southern California.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges, and in August a judge ordered that Mr. Flores be released on a $65,000 bond. But instead of releasing him, the government transferred him to the custody of ICE.
Then, in December, Mr. Flores was deported — a move that came as a surprise to prosecutors, according to court documents.
Earlier this month, Mr. Robertson filed his motion to return Mr. Flores’s bond and dismiss the case with prejudice — meaning Mr. Flores couldn’t be prosecuted for the same crime if he were to ever return to the United States.
Federal prosecutors filed an opposing motion and said the case should be dismissed without prejudice, meaning that Mr. Flores could face the same charges if he did come back.
A hearing on the matter is set for next month.
In the meantime, one jeweler who was a victim of the theft said he felt doomed to remain in legal limbo.
“It’s nothing but torture and torture from all different sides,” said John Malki, who travels from show to show displaying his wares. “Sometimes, you’re getting to a low point where you lose confidence in the justice system.”
Mr. Malki said that the merchandise stolen from him was the result of more than two decades of work. The pieces included enormous, glittering canary diamond rings and one of his favorite sets: a pair of earrings and a necklace dripping with angel skin coral and studded with multicolored gemstones.
He said he would pay $75,000 for the jewelry today, if only he could find it.
Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.
Jill Cowan is a Times reporter based in Los Angeles, covering the forces shaping life in Southern California and throughout the state.
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