FBI officials uncovered more than $500,000 Wednesday from the backyard of a Southern California home where an armored truck driver who admitted stealing $1 million had once lived.
The money was found inside a trash bin buried in the backyard of the Fontana home, FBI spokesman Laura Eimiller said.
Cesar Yanez, who lived in the home, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy and bank robbery in the 2014 heist of a Loomis armored truck. The 38-year-old former driver was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.
His fellow driver, Aldo Vegas, 28, of Pomona, also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Yanez’s wife, Leticia Yanez, and a family friend, Jovita Guzman, face trial in March.
At the time of Yanez’s sentencing, only $115,000 had been recovered, most of it from the Fontana house. U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II had said he suspected Yanez knew where the rest was hidden.
Eimiller said FBI agents and Los Angeles police, acting on a tip, found most of it Wednesday in neatly wrapped bundles in the form of $20 and $100 bills. About $300,000 is still missing.
Prosecutors say the money was part of a multimillion-dollar shipment being delivered to a Bank of America branch in Los Angeles when Yanez and Vega stopped their truck at a restaurant parking lot.
They removed the $1 million and hid it in a trash can, authorities said, adding they believe Yanez’s wife picked it up.
They believe Guzman, 40, of San Bernadino, delivered some of it to Vega.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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