Walnut theft doesn’t typically make national news. But when more than 40 tons of walnuts are stolen, totaling more than $300,000, well, that’s a different story.
Yahoo News reports that two truckloads of walnuts were stolen this week in northern California.
The walnuts were stolen in two separate heists. Sheriff’s deputies in Tehama County were alerted by a freight brokerage firm on October 26 that a 42,000 pound shipment of walnuts was missing. As the Sheriff’s department investigated the incident they found out that another 40,000 pound shipment had disappeared on October 23.
Police are now searching for a man with a Russian accent. Police believe that the walnut villain used a phony purchase report to load his semi truck with walnuts. The trucking company that was supposed to ship the walnuts said that the man with the Russian accent was not an employee of the company.
The Russian walnut thief was driving a white semi truck with a decal on the passenger side that read “InTech Transportation.” The same truck was used in both crimes.
The great California walnut heist may seem kind of funny but according to the FBI cargo crime costs the United States more than $30 billion a year.
California Highway Patrol officer Xavier Spencer said :
“It really is huge. We estimate nationwide that it’s a $35 billion loss annually just in cargo theft and obviously that only involves the cargo theft that we’re made aware of. A lot of these thefts are not reported.”
Police do not know why the thief decided to steal walnuts.
