Leader of Rooftop Bank Heists, Including in Diamond Bar, Gets 20 Years Behind Bars

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA – The leader of an Inland Empire burglary crew that stole millions of dollars by cutting through building roofs and rappelling into banks to gain access to cement vaults and safety deposit boxes was sentenced Monday to 20 years behind bars.

Alceu Johnny Andreis, 48, of Banning was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer to pay more than $12 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after he is set free, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Andreis was convicted by a jury in Los Angeles federal court last year of two counts of bank burglary. The sentence will run consecutively with a 51-month federal prison sentence he received previously after pleading guilty to related charges.

Wearing the same-size shoes and identical clothing, the robbers developed a coded language to use on walkie-talkies, making several dry runs before cutting and sealing holes in bank rooftops and returning later, court papers show.

"This is a man whose entire adult life has revolved around burglary and stealing things from other people," prosecutors wrote in pre-sentencing papers. They said the defendant has "shown he cannot be rehabilitated and will continue to commit crime."

Andreis and four others 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 crew tried to rob a Citibank branch in Diamond Bar.

Recovered evidence included a portion of the bank's roof, roofing material, two-way radios, power tools, gloves and ski masks.

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 businesses, including a branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles and a church, according to court papers.

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," a prosecutor wrote.

Andreis ran a precise operation that included scouting banks to determine optimal conditions, including prime lookout spots, easy getaway routes and secluded rooftops; purchasing all necessary construction equipment and later wiping it down for fingerprints and DNA; and training together and conducting surveillance.

He knew how to cut holes in bank rooftops, then patch them up so nobody suspected the bank was on the brink of being robbed. The holes were usually placed above alarm systems and vaults.

The defendant had the "patience and knowledge" to jackhammer a hole in the banks' thick concrete vaults, according to court papers. The identically attired five-member crew did not carry cell phones so law enforcement could not use cell site information to place the crew at the burglaries.

Prosecutors said Andreis was responsible for about two dozen rooftop bank burglaries throughout Southern California over the course of at least a decade. The 20-year maximum sentence was recommended to "to keep the defendant away from society as long as is permissible under the law," they wrote.

Four co-defendants have been convicted and sentenced in the case.

Daniel Soto of Riverside, 40, was sentenced last week to nearly four years in prison after pleading guilty and cooperating with authorities.

Lucian Gabriel Isaia of Beaumont, 36, and Laurentiu Penescu of Yucaipa, 42, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy and attempted bank burglary and were each sentenced in June 2014 to three-year federal prison terms for the failed Diamond Bar heist.

A fifth man, Dean "Dino' Muniz of Fontana, 49, was sentenced to a 10- year prison term after pleading guilty to bank burglary.

Investigators believe the veteran burglars had been slicing through rooftops late at night to access vaults for years.

Prosecutors said the crew was linked to a 2011 heist at an East West Bank branch in Rowland Heights, in which $1 million in cash was stolen and safety deposit boxes containing $14 million in valuables were emptied.

A Preferred Bank location in Diamond Bar was hit a few months later, but the job was abandoned. In September 2012, thieves broke into the vault of the BBCN Bank branch in Diamond Bar, taking $2.43 million in valuables.

Andreis, Isaia and Penescu were convicted a decade ago of several Riverside County rooftop thefts. In those heists, more than $3.5 million in cash and gems were stolen from jewelers and other businesses in Palm Springs and Temecula.

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--City News Service/Photos via LACSO, Shuttterstock