Imprisoned Men Newly Charged With Diamond Bar Roof Cut Burglary

Three Inland Empire men imprisoned for stealing millions of dollars by using power tools to cut though building roofs to gain access to cement bank vaults -- one of them in Diamond Bar -- have been hit with new federal charges stemming from two Southland heists, according to court papers obtained Friday.
Alceu Johnny Andreis, 46, of Banning, Lucian Gabriel Isaia, 33, of Beaumont, and Laurentiu Penescu, 39, of Yucaipa -- currently serving federal prison terms ranging from 37 to 51 months -- are charged with burglarizing a BBCN Bank branch in Diamond Bar in 2012 and an East West Bank branch in Rowland Heights the year before, according to a four-count indictment unsealed this week.
If convicted of the new charges, the men face decades in prison.
Andreis, Isaia and Penescu each pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to commit bank burglary and attempted bank burglary for the failed break-in of a Diamond Bar Citibank branch in April 2013.
In the new case, prosecutors allege $147,000 in cash was stolen and safety deposit boxes containing $14 million in valuables were emptied at the East West Bank.
The three men are also accused of taking $430,000 in bank cash and another $4 million in valuables from safe deposit boxes at the BBCN Bank branch, according to the indictment listing conspiracy and other charges.
Andreis had special knowledge of how to break into bank vaults through the roof, a method perfected during nearly two decades of cutting holes in roofs and burglarizing many business, including a branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles and a church, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Rhoades.
The men “knew how to select a bank with a penetrable roof; locate the vault from overhead using a sonar device; cut a hole in the roof and install braces to keep the removed section in place until their subsequent return,” the prosecutor wrote in papers for the earlier case.
Five men linked to the crimes were arrested in April 2013 following a year-long investigation that involved a surveillance operation by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, who were on hand when the suspects tried to burglarize the Citibank branch.
Recovered evidence included a portion of the bank’s roof, roofing material, two-way radios, tools, gloves and ski masks.
Nearly a decade ago, Andreis, Isaia and Penescu were imprisoned for a series of Riverside County rooftop heists in which more than $3.5 million in cash and gems were stolen from jewelers in Palm Springs and Temecula, as well as other businesses, according to prosecutors.
Two other defendants have pleaded guilty in the case.
Daniel Soto, 38, of Riverside, is awaiting sentencing, and Dean “Dino’ Muniz, 47, of Fontana, is serving a 10-year term in federal prison.


— City News Service