Over a thousand historic artifacts, including Native American baskets, jewelry, and other priceless pieces, were stolen in a brazen overnight heist at an Oakland Museum of California storage facility, prompting the FBI and Oakland Police Department to launch a joint investigation.
The burglary happened just before 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2025, when criminals broke into the museum’s off-site storage facility and stole over 1,000 objects from the collection, according to the Oakland Police Department.
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Native American baskets, jewelry, laptops, and other important treasures of California cultural history were among the stolen objects.
The FBI’s Art Crime Team, a specialist organization with around 20 agents nationally, is aiding with the inquiry. The team specializes in cases of art theft, forgery, fraud, and cultural property trafficking.
“This theft represents a brazen act that robs the public of our state’s cultural heritage,” Lori Fogarty, executive director and CEO of the Oakland Museum of California said. “Most of these objects have been given to the museum by generous donors. We are working in close partnership with the City of Oakland, the Oakland Police Department, and the FBI to see that these objects are returned.”
According to Fogarty, the museum is currently working on an inventory of the stolen pieces to estimate their entire value. No arrests have been made.
If you have any information, please contact the OPD Burglary Section at (510) 238-3951 or the FBI Art Crime Team at Tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI.
According to French officials, on October 19, 2025, a group of burglars used a basket hoist to ascend the Louvre’s façade, ripped open a window, and smashed display cases before fleeing with a cache of royal jewels in just eight minutes.
Laurence des Cars, director of the Louvre, acknowledged a “terrible failure” in the museum’s security.
The burglars stole eight items, including a sapphire diadem, necklace, and single earring from a set belonging to nineteenth-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
They also took an emerald necklace and earrings belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, Empress Marie-Louise, as well as a reliquary brooch. The plunder also included Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her huge corsage-bow brooch, an imperial ensemble of remarkable craftsmanship.
Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with over 1,300 diamonds was later discovered outside the museum, broken but recoverable.
