** TO GO WITH ORO ALTIBAJOS ** FILE ** In this file photo dated Nov. 8, 2006, gold bars are seen on display at the "Gold" exhibit in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, USA. This past autumn, as banks in Europe and America teetered on the brink of collapse, house prices went into freefall and stock markets slumped, gold's value soared as it took on its age-old role as a safe haven in times of trouble. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) ((AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File))
Federal prosecutors want to seize vehicles, homes, guns, a boat and jewelry from the alleged South Florida mastermind of a $4.8 million gold robbery from a truck in North Carolina.
Court papers show prosecutors believe the property was purchased by 46-year-old Adalberto Perez with the proceeds from the Hollywood-worthy 2015 heist.
The move by prosecutors comes less than a month after a federal judge ordered Perez jailed Tuesday until his trial.
Perez faces robbery and firearm charges stemming from the 2015 heist. The FBI says Perez used a GPS device to track a tractor-trailer carrying a 275-pound load of gold and released pepper spray by remote control to sicken the driver and a passenger before the robbery, which took place on the side of a highway in Wilson County, North Carolina.
The gold was being shipped from Miami to Massachusetts when three armed thieves intercepted it, bound the hands of the two people in the truck and fled in a van. More arrests are expected.
The news of Perez’s arrest shocked many of his neighbors in South Florida who claim he and his family are good people.
"They were really good neighbors who have been there a long time," one neighbor told local media.
Perez, however, has a lengthy rap sheet that includes charges of grand theft, arson and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
He was the second person to be arrested in connection to the gold heist.
Miguel Bovar pleaded guilty last year to attempted extortion for threatening the people who had agreed to buy one of the stolen gold bars after the deal fell through.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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