Placentia : Suspect in Gold Theft at Dental Firm Surrenders

The second suspect in the January theft of $250,000 in gold from a Placentia dental supply company has surrendered, authorities said Wednesday.

Bret Allen Langford, 19, of Garden Grove was being held in County Jail on Wednesday in lieu of $265,000 bail after he turned himself in to court authorities at North County Municipal Court in Fullerton late Monday afternoon, Police Lt. Daryll Thomann said.

Langford is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on charges of robbery, kidnaping, burglary and grand theft of an auto in connection with the Jan. 4 robbery of the Degussa Dental Inc. in Placentia, where he was once an employee. Langford is also a suspect in the theft of $20,000 in gold from the same company in September, 1986.

On Jan. 4, Langford and Gerald M. Stafford, 30, of Anaheim are alleged to have kidnaped a secretary at gunpoint and forced her to unlock a dental firm safe containing $250,000 in gold.

Stafford was arrested Jan. 5 in Garden Grove as he stepped out of a chauffeured limousine near an apartment staked out by officers working on an informant’s tip. Langford allegedly fled from the rented limousine and escaped. However, police said most of the stolen gold was found in the vehicle’s trunk.

Authorities believe that Langford was staying with his father in Illinois. Thomann said an attorney representing Langford helped make the arrangements for his return to surrender to authorities.