395: Michael De La Pena – Santa Claus Armored Car Robbery and Murder
FBI Case File Review
Jerri Williams
4.7 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 22 April 2026
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Retired agent Michael De La Pena reviews a case where he, as a rookie agent, was assigned to investigate two armored car robberies in West Hartford, Connecticut, where a total of $1.8 million was stolen. During one of the robberies, one of the subjects wore a full Santa Claus costume as a disguise and later had one of the robbers killed to stop him from talking about the crime.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Loemus truck was robbed at gunpoint of $1 million cash by two armed men in Hartford, Connecticut. |
| 0:08.0 | We later learned that one of the guards was what we would call an inside man. |
| 0:12.3 | He worked part-time for Loemus. |
| 0:15.0 | The next robbery was called the Santa Claus robbery because the robber was dressed in a full Santa Claus outfit. |
| 0:22.3 | The Santa Claus robbery netted $800,000 in cash, so total of $1.8 million taken. |
| 0:32.6 | Welcome to episode 395 of FBI case file review with Jerry Williams. |
| 0:41.7 | I'm a retired agent on a mission to show you who the FBI is and what the FBI does |
| 0:48.6 | through my books, my blog, and my podcast case reviews with former colleagues. |
| 0:54.0 | Today, we get to speak to retired agent |
| 0:57.3 | Michael de la Pena, who served in the FBI for 30 years. In this episode, he reviews a case |
| 1:05.4 | where he, as a rookie agent, was assigned to investigate two armored car robberies in West Hartford, Connecticut, |
| 1:13.8 | where $1.8 million was stolen. During one of the robberies, one of the subjects wore a full |
| 1:20.8 | Santa Claus costume as a disguise. Another one of the robberies was murdered to stop him from talking about the crimes. |
| 1:29.3 | Mike was able to get this case indicted just before the five-year statute of limitations for |
| 1:35.6 | armored car robbery expired. His work on the case aided in the local police being able to |
| 1:42.4 | charge one of the subjects with the murder. Mike received a letter |
| 1:47.3 | from FBI director William Sessions for his work on the case, and he was interviewed on the |
| 1:53.5 | Oxygen Channel show, Buried in the Backyard, Season 6, Episode 8, titled Frozen Silent. The show is available on demand. |
| 2:04.2 | Mike was assigned to the New Haven, San Juan, and Boston divisions, where he investigated bank |
| 2:09.9 | robberies, armored car robberies, civil rights violations, fugitive matters, and terrorism |
| 2:15.5 | cases. He later became a polygraph examiner and worked for six years |
| 2:20.7 | on an anti-narcotic squad. He is over 20 years of polygraph service conducting approximately |
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