This wild story of an outrageously dirty cop sure happened in the right place:
Los Angeles, California. Because it seems a plot plucked from a gritty Hollywood heist movie.
A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's deputy was sentenced this week for leading an armed
heist of a legal marijuana warehouse, making off with two million dollars in product and money
The Mob Reporter here with the tale of how a corrupt cop using his real sheriff's uniform
gun and truck, led a crew of fake cops with a fake search warrant to fake arrest security guards
and clear the place out. For an added plot twist
in the middle of the heist the deputy even fooled LAPD cops who arrived to investigate
Let me tell you about it
The end of this story came this week, when the last man standing
from the brazen heist was sent to prison. It began, however, on October 29, 2018
Although off-duty at the time, 43-year-old Marc Antrim, dressed in his work gear, his
gun, his sheriff's jacket, his duty belt, and even grabbed a sheriff's Ford Explorer from the station
He gathered his posse and headed to downtown L.A., to an area filled with industrial and commercial
buildings, along the San Bernardino Freeway. It's a rather bleak stretch less than a mile away
from the LAPD headquarters. Now to understand what happens, you first need to know two things.
One: that California legalized adult use pot after a statewide vote, and legal sales started in 2018
The second: Because the fledgling industry had difficulty with corporate banking, many facilities
held a lot of its cash on site. This made them big fat targets — and the target for this heist
was Stiizy, a 6,500 square foot storage and retail facility, one of the largest in California. The
space provides an art gallery like interior and boasts of its Instagramable atmosphere
It was photos of a different sort, though, that captured this action from start to finish
Including some video footage exclusive to The Mob Reporter
At 3:11 a.m., Antrim pulled his sheriff's Ford Explorer up to Stiizy's closed gate. He waved a security
guard over and showed him his badge and a fake search warrant and the guard opened the gate
He then pulled into the parking lot, got out with two accomplices — both dressed up as cops, one even
held a shotgun, adding to the intimidation factor. Antrim "arrested" the two male guards and locked
them in the rear cage of his sheriff's truck. By 3:15 a.m., he was at the warehouse door and showed his
badge and the fake search warrant to the female employee who let them inside. He arrested her too
and placed her in his truck with the two guards. At 3:21 a.m., another accomplice drove a rented Penske
truck into the parking lot. The four men then started hauling together bags and boxes. They knew
exactly what they were looking for and where to find it. Every good heist movie needs an inside man
and in this case it was Christopher Myung Kim, who worked for the company for years before a dispute
with his owners left him disgruntled and bitter. He left the job just a few weeks before the heist
As his revenge, Kim laid the warehouse operation out for Antrim, revealing security arrangements
and protocols, how many staff there were, and where they would be. He even gave him
blueprints of the facility and told him which room should be hit to get the most valuable stuff
Kim didn't go on the actual raid, after all he'd be easily recognized. There was another member of
the crew, however, a lookout stationed outside, monitoring the streets and keeping in touch
through walkie-talkies. He came in very handy 20 minutes into the heist, when the whole job
was almost blown — someone had called the cops, the real cops. At 3:43 a.m., patrol officers from the Los
Angeles Police Department arrived to investigate suspicious activity. Alerted by his lookout. Antrim
casually walked to the front gate to greet them. Not everyone was as calm and collected as Antrim —
the other three in the crew panicked, ditched their sheriff's jackets, and ran out the back
Antrim told the cops he was with the sheriff's drug squad and was executing a legal search warrant
At one point, he even pulled out his phone and said he was calling his sergeant and then handed
the phone to one of the cops to talk to him. It was all a ruse, of course, but the cops bought it
By 4:16 a.m., the LAPD left Antrim to it. Antrim then called his crew to come
back and they got back to loading the haul from the warehouse into the back of the Penske truck
They then hoisted two large safes into the truck as well. Both of the safes were five
feet tall. Inside was $645,000 in cash and money orders. By 5 a.m., his crew took off in the truck
And Antrim released the warehouse staff from his SUV, climbed behind the wheel and drove off. There
is always a scene in a heist movie, after the job, when the gang meets up to deal with their loot
This is as close to that as I could get. It's exclusive to The Mob Reporter. Here we finally
see the inside man, Christopher Kim. He arrives in a white Lexus at a self-storage facility where he
rented a unit the day of the heist. Antrim drives the Penske truck, stuffed with the loot to meet him
He's the guy in the black shirt and hat
He's delivering 1,200 pounds in stolen product
worth an estimated 1.5 million dollars to hide in Kim's storage unit until they can sell it
Another of the crew, Kevin McBride, is seen meeting up with them at the end
Now on the surface, this may have seemed a good idea, but in hindsight it couldn't possibly have
worked. It's one thing to rip off street dealers — like Antrim had done several times before — but
it looks like he hadn't yet adjusted to the new laws, because his victims here were just
a business like any other. They had security and videos, and lawyers, and nothing to hide
In fact, state law requires a warehouse like this to have security surveillance up the wazoo
The robbery, as it turns out, was captured on 32 surveillance cameras
throughout the warehouse. Lawyers for the warehouse wanted to know what the
supposed raid was all about, and went to the sheriff's department to find out
Imagine everyone's surprise when they realized what was really going on. When the sheriff's
sergeant looked at the company's security footage he immediately recognized Deputy Antrim
When Antrim was arrested a month after the robbery, he shifted gears once again. He struck a plea
bargain with federal authorities and cooperated with prosecutors against his co-conspirators
His crew was scooped up. Most pled guilty. Kim, the inside man, however, fought the charges in court
Antrim took the stand and testified against him at his trial. Kim was found guilty by a
jury and sentenced to 14 years in prison and given a five hundred thousand dollar fine
Seven of the crew in all went down for the heist. Antrim was the last to be sentenced
He pleaded guilty to five felony charges earlier but prosecutors hold them back for sentencing
to make sure a cooperating witness keeps their end of the bargain and doesn't back out
On April 12, 2021, Antrim was finally sentenced. His punishment was reduced on account of his
cooperation and he was given a seven year sentence — that's half what the inside man got
The judge said the case quote "sounded like a movie script"
and "eroded the public's trust in police." Oh, it sure does!
To pull all of this off, Antrim must be one heck of an actor
Maybe when he gets out of prison he can return to Hollywood and look for work
Thanks for watching