More than 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, sparking a joint investigation by the FBI and Oakland Police Department.
The burglary happened just before 3:30 a.m. Oct. 15, 2025, when thieves broke into the museum’s off-site storage facility and made off with more than 1,000 objects from the collection, the Oakland Police Department said.
Among the items stolen were Native American baskets, jewelry, laptops and other irreplaceable pieces of California’s cultural history.
The FBI’s Art Crime Team, a specialized unit of about 20 agents nationwide, is assisting in the investigation. The team focuses on cases involving art theft, forgery, fraud and cultural property trafficking.
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“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.”
Fogarty said the museum is working to complete an inventory of the stolen items and determine their total value. No arrests have been made.
Authorities are urging anyone with information to contact the OPD Burglary Section at 510-238-3951 or the FBI Art Crime Team at Tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI.
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The Oakland break-in happened just days before a shocking $102 million jewel heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris that stunned the art world and raised new questions about museum security worldwide.
On Oct. 19, 2025, a crew of thieves used a basket lift to scale the Louvre’s façade, forced open a window and smashed display cases before escaping with a trove of royal jewels in just eight minutes, according to French officials.
The Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, acknowledged there was a “terrible failure” in the museum’s security.
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The thieves slipped away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
They also stole an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, and a reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch — an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship — were also part of the loot.
Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.
Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
