The man wanted for stealing a bucket of gold flakes worth more than $1 million was captured in Ecuador, an NYPD spokesman confirmed on Thursday.
Julio Nivelo, 55, was on the run since he allegedly grabbed an 86-pound bucket containing $1.6 million in gold flakes off the back of an armored truck in the middle of the afternoon on Sept. 29, 2016, and simply walked off with it. The truck was parked on West 48th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, at the time, and the guard had briefly walked away from the back to get his cellphone.
Following the theft, police believed Nivelo had made his way to Los Angeles. But on Wednesday, Nivelo was picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations and Ecuadorean authorities.
Nivelo has a history of being arrested in both the United States and in Ecuador, according to the Ministry of the Interior of Ecuador. He has been deported from the United States several times, according to reports.
