Oakland museum official hopes for return of stolen historical items

Fogarty said staff members were not working at the offsite storage facility the day of the burglary and discovered it the following morning, Oct. 16.

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“IT was devastating,” museum CEO Lori Fogarty said. Above, carved tusks taken.

(Oakland Police Department)

"Our job is to preserve and take care of and steward the cultural, artistic and natural heritage of California," she said. "So it feels like not just a loss to me and to the collection staff, we also feel like it's a loss to the public."

The Oakland Museum of California features more than 110,000 square feet of gallery space and 2 million objects dedicated to telling the story of the Golden State.

Retired Los Angeles Police Capt. John Romero, who led the department's commercial crimes unit, said that if the break-in was completed without setting off alarms or alerting security, it's possible that the person or people behind it had some internal knowledge, he said. The fact that the heist took place at an offsite storage unit also suggests that the suspect or suspects had access to privileged information, he said.

"IT was devastating," museum CEO Lori Fogarty said. Above, carved tusks taken.