A man facing federal charges in what authorities have called the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history has agreed to plead guilty for his role in the crime.
Carlos Victor Mestanza Cercado was one of seven men chargedwith breaking into a Brinks big rig at a Grapevine truck stop and stealing around $100 million worth of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and luxury watches in 2022. A month after charges were filed last year, authorities arrested Mestanza at an international airport in Panama, as he was on his way to Ecuador.
In a court filing made public Monday, Mestanza agreed to plead guilty to interference with commerce by robbery. His plea hearing is set for Nov. 19. Mestanza could face up to 20 years in prison.
Mestanza’s attorney declined to comment.
Three of Mestanza’s co-defendants are set to go to trial in March. Another, Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores, was deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as he awaited trial. Prosecutors said they were unaware of the deportation and still hope to bring Flores to trial.
In his plea agreement, which was signed last week, Mestanza admitted to a series of thefts and robberies — including the Brinks heist. According to the agreement, Mestanza and co-conspirators honed in on a Brinks semitruck leaving an international jewelry show in San Mateo on July 10 carrying 73 bags containing millions of dollars worth of jewelry.
Mestanza admitted he and others coordinated by phone as they followed the truck around 300 miles to rest stops in Buttonwillow and Lebec. On July 11, according to the plea agreement, Mestanza and co-conspirators broke the truck’s locks and stole 24 bags of jewelry — which victims later valued at around $100 million — before traveling to East Hollywood.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles described the crime as “the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history.”
In the following days, Mestanza admitted that he and others deactivated the cell numbers they used during the heist in an effort to conceal their identities.
The seven men were each charged with conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment and also theft from interstate and foreign shipment in an indictment unsealed last year in June.
In all, 14 jewelers whose merchandise Brink’s was transporting to Pasadena were victimized that day. Several suffered grave financial losses, and some left the trade altogether.
According to the plea agreement, after the indictment was made public Mestanza texted someone about his “stupidities from the past that I’m now paying for” and said he didn’t know whether the police were after him.
On June 28, 2025, according to the plea agreement, Mestanza messaged a South American number on WhatsApp about crossing the Mexican border after a “robo grande.”
Mestanza also admitted to agreeing to commit a series of other thefts and robberies with co-conspirators in 2022. According to the plea agreement, Mestanza and others would use multiple vehicles to follow truck drivers to stopping points and steal their cargo, “including by force and threat of force in the presence of the victims.”
The plea agreement detailed Mestanza and others stealing more than $240,000 worth of Samsung electronics from a truck in March 2022. That same month, Mestanza admitted that he and others stole more than $57,000 worth of Apple AirTags from another truck.
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