Disney Studios Robbed of Cash; Police Call Theft an ‘Inside Job’

Two armed men who gained entry into Disney Studios in Burbank by responding to a situation-comedy casting call stole a “substantial” amount of money from a production office Thursday in what police described as an “inside job.”

Police would not say how much money was taken, but sources at the studio who asked not to be identified said the amount was about $100,000.

“I can’t verify that,” Burbank Police Sgt. Don Goldberg said. “But Mickey Mouse is crying. These guys knew what they were doing. They were pros. They had knowledge of where the money was. We’re operating on the premise that this was an inside job.”

Disney officials refused to comment on the robbery or security precautions.

The two men were seen wandering around the studio lot and office around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Goldberg said. Studio personnel apparently believed that the pair were answering a casting call for “Pacific Station,” an NBC comedy series starring Robert Guillaume.

“No one took any real notice of them at all,” Goldberg said.

One man, dressed in a medium gray suit, was around 30. The other, dressed in a dark gray suit, was about 20 to 30, he said.

About 11:30 a.m., the pair entered the third floor of a production building where a cash control office is located, Goldberg said. The men forced one woman in the office to go into another office where two other women were working, he said.

The men, who wore rubber gloves, then made one of the women retrieve a key to open an inner door to a cash vault, Goldberg said. The outer door to the vault was already open.

The men used duct tape to bind the ankles of each woman, took the money from the vault and left, Goldberg said.

The men left the studio lot on foot by following an employee who was leaving for lunch through a locked gate, he said.