Cops foil alleged 'Oceans 11' style heist

(05-31) 16:16 PDT SANTA CRUZ -- A man arrested with a cache of weapons and 50,000 rounds of ammunition plotted an elaborate "Ocean's Eleven" style heist at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk during the busy Memorial Day weekend, prosecutors said Friday.

Nicholas Yukich, 54, a community safety officer with the University of California at Santa Cruz, was charged with one felony count of conspiracy to commit grand theft and 10 felony counts of possessing illegal assault weapons during a court hearing Wednesday.

Authorities said Yukich, who lives in Live Oak (Santa Cruz County), had received inside information about the Boardwalk's security detail and drew up plans to enlist others to help him steal an estimated $110,000 from cash carts as workers transported the money to a safe.

Prosecutor Ross Taylor said Yukich first orchestrated the daytime robbery to unfold in November, but brushed aside those plans after learning the spoils would be much higher during the busy Memorial Day weekend.

For nine months Yukich conducted surveillance on the cash cart workers, authorities said. As his co-conspirators broke into the carts with bolt cutters and grabbed bags of cash, Yukich planned to oversee the robbery from afar and monitor police radio traffic.

The robbers planned to run from the scene, shed their disguises, and flee in rented cars. Yukich suggested they use replica handguns in case any bystanders tried "playing the hero," court documents said.

But investigators caught wind of Yukich's alleged intentions May 23, when a co-conspirator came forward five days before the planned robbery.

Authorities served a search warrant on Yukich's Live Oak home and said they found plans for the robbery on his computer, 48 weapons that included illegal firearms, shotguns, handguns, and stockpiles of ammunition.

Jim Burns, a UC Santa Cruz spokesman, said Yukich had worked at the campus since 1981 as a safety officer. Burns described Yukich's job as "something akin to a night proctor."

He was placed on investigatory leave after his arrest, Burns said.

Yukich is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.