View full sizeVincent N. Cabello (2002 photo)A 39-year-old man accused of plotting with his parents to commit a series of audacious thefts -- most notably staging a 2005 armored car hijacking in Portland -- sat down with his lawyer and federal investigators late last week and spilled a big family secret.
Vincent N. Cabello told them where to find nearly $2 million that he had stashed in a safe deposit box in Bellevue, Wash., after the Portland heist. He also provided details about how he helped his dad, former armored car driver Archie Cabello, pull off the $3 million theft, according to an FBI search warrant affidavit.
The younger Cabello pleaded guilty Wednesday for his role in the plot. Wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, he admitted to U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones in Portland that he had conspired to commit bank larceny and launder money.
His parents, Archie and Marian Cabello, maintain they are innocent and are set to stand trial April 30.
Vincent Cabello spent Friday and Saturday telling investigators how he and his dad pulled off the armored car heist, according to the FBI affidavit. He told them that the plot took form in the summer of 2005, a few months after Archie Cabello went to work as a driver for Oregon Armored Services.
View full sizeArchie CabelloThe FBI affidavit gives this account of what followed:
On Dec. 6, 2005, Archie Cabello phoned his son on one of the two Tracfone prepaid cellphones they had bought to time their crime. Vincent Cabello, stationed near the Southeast Portland corner of Clay Street and Seventh Avenue, soon saw his dad's armored car stop. Archie let his son in a rear door, told him where to find the money and kept driving.
Vincent Cabello put two sealed bags, each containing $1.5 million in $100 bills, into his shoulder bag. He tried to steal a sack of fifties, too, but ran out of time. The armored car stopped. Vincent Cabello took his dad's Tracfone and got out.
Then, according to government accounts, Archie Cabello reported he was the victim of a gunpoint robbery.
Vincent Cabello drove to an Enterprise Rent-a-Car business downtown, rented an SUV and drove north to Centralia, where he checked into a motel. The next day, he drove to a shopping center in Bellevue, east of Seattle. There, shouldering the bag of cash, he caught a bus to The Safe Deposit Center, according to the affidavit.
View full sizeMultnomah County Sheriff's OfficeMarian Cabello
He told investigators last week that his parents had established a safe deposit box there a few years earlier and set him up as a signatory under an alias: Ron Alda.
Vincent Cabello left the shoulder bag full of money in box No. 254 and drove back to Portland, according to his statement to the FBI.
During last week's meetings with the government, Vincent Cabello said he and his parents hid two keys to the safe deposit box in their Northeast Portland home. One key was hidden behind an electrical outlet plate in a bathroom, the other in one of the legs of a medical walker, he told them.
The three Cabellos are accused of retrieving the money carefully over the years and hiding it through a series of transactions involving phony identities, money orders and credit cards. The FBI's affidavit suggests they even paid a visit after Dec. 2, 2010, when a federal grand jury in Portland handed up an indictment accusing them of a 10-year slew of crimes.
Government prosecutors accuse the three of playing roles in the 2005 Portland armored car theft and two similar acts of larceny in Milwaukee, Wis.: the 1995 theft of $150,000 from an armored car driven by Archie Cabello and a 1998 theft of more than $700,000 from a vault at American Security Corp., where Vincent Cabello worked as a clerk.
The Cabellos were freed while awaiting trial, although they were forced to turn over their passports and undergo electronic monitoring.
At 8:52 a.m. Monday, a team of FBI agents searched the Cabellos' safe deposit box in Bellevue. They found, among other things, a teal blue duffel bag, a piece of Lucas carry-on luggage and a little less than $2 million -- all in $100 bills.
In Portland that day, Archie and Marian Cabello were hauled into federal magistrate's court in ankle restraints to face charges that remain under seal. They are scheduled to appear in court next week.
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