$500,000 Stolen in Armored Car Heist Found Buried in Yard

The cash was found during a search for money stolen in a 2014 heist that involved two armored car drivers

Investigators searching a home in connection with the 2014 robbery of an armored car in Southern California found a half-million dollars buried in a bin in the yard.

Property records show the San Bernardino County home was occupied by Cesar Yanez, a former Loomis armored truck driver who is serving time for the nearly million-dollar heist. Investigators had only recovered about $85,000 in cash stolen from the armored car until Wednesday, when FBI agents searched his Fontana residence after receiving a tip, the agency said.

They found about $500,000 buried in the home's yard and are still searching for about $300,000 in connection with the robbery. Video from outside the home showed agents carrying blue bins of cash and bags of other items from the property.

In November 2014, Yanez and another Loomis employee were arrested on federal charges related to the heist involving part of a multimillion load of cash that was being transported to a Los Angeles-area Bank of America location. The two men stopped in a parking lot, removed cash from the truck's storage area and placed it in a trash bin, according to federal investigators.

The bin was later picked up and delivered to the robbers by a third co-conspirator, according to a federal indictment.

Yanez pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy and bank larceny in the June 2014 robbery. He was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay restitution.

NBC4 is attempting to confirm the legal fate of the two other individuals arrested in the case.

NBC News' Andrew Blankstein contributed to this report.

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