One of seven men charged in the 2022 Brink's jewelry truck heist has agreed to plead guilty to a federal robbery charge, with a plea hearing scheduled for Nov. 19 that could send him to prison for up to 20 years. Carlos Victor Mestanza Cercado is accused of helping orchestrate what the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles has called the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history, a case built around a Brink's semitruck that was tailed for roughly 300 miles before thieves made off with bags of gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and luxury watches.
Mestanza agreed to plead guilty to interference with commerce by robbery, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported his plea hearing is set for Nov. 19. He is one of seven men charged in 2025 with conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment and theft from interstate and foreign shipment, stemming from a heist whose victims later valued the stolen jewelry and watches at about $100 million. Mestanza's attorney declined to comment, per the same report.
The scheme targeted a Brink's semitruck carrying 73 bags of jewelry after an international jewelry show in San Mateo on July 10, 2022. Mestanza and his co-conspirators followed the truck for about 300 miles to rest stops in Buttonwillow and Lebec, coordinating by phone as they followed the truck before striking. The group ultimately stole bags of jewelry from the truck the next day, a theft later valued by victims at around $100 million, though reported figures have varied: a 2022 account said 22 large bags were taken during a 27-minute window while one driver slept in the vehicle's berth and the other went to get food, while later reporting put the number at 24 bags.
Disputed Dollar Figures Still Haunt the Case
The value of what was stolen has been a moving target throughout the case. A lawsuit filed by victimized jewelers sought at least $200 million in restitution and damages, while Brink's countered in a separate federal filing that the pilfered items carried a declared total value of just $8.7 million, an amount the company argued should cap its potential payout. Those competing figures remain unresolved in the public record even as Mestanza's criminal case moves toward a plea.
Fourteen jewelers whose merchandise Brink's was transporting to Pasadena were victimized that day, and the fallout was severe for some of them. Several suffered grave financial losses, and some left the trade altogether, according to the Los Angeles Times account of the case.
A Pattern of Truck Thefts Before the Big Score
Mestanza admitted to a string of other thefts and robberies in 2022, months before the Brink's job. He and others stole more than $240,000 worth of Samsung electronics from a truck that March, and in a separate incident took more than $57,000 worth of Apple AirTags from another truck. The plea agreement described the cargo thefts as carried out by force or threat of force in the presence of victims, using the same playbook of trailing trucks to rest stops before striking.
After the Brink's heist, Mestanza and others reportedly traveled to East Hollywood and deactivated cell numbers used during the robbery in an apparent effort to conceal their identities. He was later arrested at an international airport in Panama while traveling to Ecuador, according to the article, which notes he messaged someone about his past actions after the indictment became public and separately messaged a South American phone number about crossing the Mexican border following a major robbery.
Co-Defendants Head to Trial, One Already Deported
While Mestanza moves toward a guilty plea, his co-defendants are set to go to trial in March 2027. One of them, Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores, was deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while awaiting trial, prosecutors said, adding that they were unaware of his deportation and still hope to bring him to trial.
Cases like this one echo a broader pattern of organized crews targeting traveling merchandise over long stretches of highway. In an earlier, unrelated federal case, the ringleader of a crew that targeted traveling jewelry salespeople and inflicted at least $835,000 in losses was sentenced to 45 months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. The scale of the Brink's case, by contrast, has made it a singular example in federal prosecutors' telling, one the government has repeatedly described as the largest jewelry heist in the country's history.
