LAX Cargo Handlers Plead Guilty To Stealing Gold Bars From Shipment
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Two Los Angeles International Airport cargo workers pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge for stealing gold bars from a shipment heading from Australia to New York City.
Marlon Moody, 38, and Brian Benson, 35, both of South Los Angeles, agreed to a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office.
On April 22 of last year, 2,000 gold bars, each valued at $56,000, were offloaded during a stopover at LAX.
An inventory checked showed that one box containing 25 gold bars was missing, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Moody found the missing box and drove it to a different part of the airport, where he took out four of the bars.
According to Prosecutors, Benson then picked up Moody and the bars the next day. The two defendants later left the airport and Moody gave Benson one of the four gold bars, according to the indictment.
Moody gave one gold bar to a relative on May 4 and then buried the remaining two gold bars in his backyard.
The FBI recovered all four gold bars about two weeks after they went missing from LAX, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The suspects are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 1.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
