Federal investigators have launched a sweeping artifact theft investigation after more than 1,000 priceless Native American and historic California artifacts were stolen from an Oakland Museum of California storage facility. The overnight burglary occurred around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 15, 2025, when thieves broke into the museum’s off-site warehouse and made off with baskets, jewelry, and other irreplaceable pieces of cultural heritage, according to Oakland police.
The FBI’s elite Art Crime Team — a 20-agent unit specializing in art theft, forgery, and cultural property crimes — is assisting local authorities. “This theft represents a brazen act that robs the public of our state’s cultural heritage,” said Lori Fogarty, the museum’s executive director and CEO. “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.”
The museum is now conducting a full inventory to assess what was taken and estimate the total value of the loss. Investigators have not announced any arrests or identified suspects. Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Oakland Police Burglary Section or the FBI’s Art Crime Team through Tips.fbi.gov.
The Oakland heist comes just days before a separate $102 million jewel theft at the Louvre Museum in Paris, where a team of thieves scaled the building and escaped with royal gems linked to 19th-century French royalty. The two major thefts have raised renewed concerns about museum security and the global trade in stolen cultural artifacts.
