Overview
- Surveillance video released Monday shows two people inside the Oakland Museum of California’s off-site storage facility, and investigators have not yet identified them.
- The break-in occurred around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 15 at a warehouse site used to store collection items.
- More than 1,000 objects were taken, including Native American baskets, 19th-century scrimshaw such as walrus tusks, daguerreotypes, modernist jewelry, laptops, and memorabilia like pins and ribbons.
- Officials describe the theft as a crime of opportunity rather than a targeted art heist.
- The museum delayed public disclosure until Oct. 29 during the investigation, basket details are being withheld at a tribe’s request, and the storage site is described as camera- and alarm-protected with holdings of roughly two million objects.