Thief Who Stole $1.6M Pot Of Gold Is 4-Time Deported Illegal Alien

Police have identified the quick-moving crook who brazenly stole a bucket of gold flakes worth nearly $1.6 million from an armored truck and ran off with it in midtown Manhattan earlier this fall.

The NYPD says Julio Nivelo is the man who allegedly swiped the 86-pound bucket of gold off the truck on West 48th Street in September, the heist seen in surveillance video first obtained by NBC 4 New York.

NYPD Det. Martin Pastor says Nivelo, who's from West New York, New Jersey, is a convicted felon who's known to the NYPD as Luis Toledo, among other aliases. He's a career thief who's been arrested seven times and deported four times to his native Ecuador, according to Pastor.

Now the NYPD Major Case Squad has been tracking Nivelo's moves: Pastor says Nivelo fled to Orlando, Florida, before moving on to California, where he's believed to be hiding out in the Los Angeles area with the stolen riches.