Police say three men were arrested in Irvine for a vehicle burglary may be connected to a series of bank-jugging cases.
Bank-jugging, according to Irvine Police spokesman Kyle Oldoerp, involves “suspects basically surveilling banks and watching for customers to withdraw cash.”
“It's then following them to a secondary location, hoping that it's a public location, and then stealing the cash from the vehicles,” he explained to KNX News. “Definitely requires some patience.”
The first bank-jugging case happened on July 2 in Irvine, where two cars were burglarized after victims had just withdrawn money, according to the Irvine Police Department. Officers noticed the suspect vehicle was a black Ford Expedition “displaying a license plate recently stolen in Irvine.”
“Last Tuesday, we began surveilling that vehicle as it moved around Orange County,” Oldoerp said. “Activity [was] consistent with bank jugging, so we surveilled that vehicle. We observed them break into a vehicle and steal a banker's bag, and then took the three suspects into custody.”
Maurice James, 24, Samuel Marcus Polite, 20, and Ja Vion Marcell La Shang Mathews, 22, all from Texas, were booked on several charges, including conspiracy, vehicle burglary, felony vandalism, and possession of burglary tools.
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
“When detectives searched the suspect’s vehicle, they found the stolen banker’s bag, a fake license plate, burglary tools, a ski mask, and cash,” according to the department.
Police are advising business owners not to carry a banker's bag when you're leaving a bank with cash, and to go directly to either a business or a home to secure the money.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok