California man arrested over theft of 42,000lbs of pistachios

LTC Eugene Chu
"Law enforcement officials in Central California have cracked the case of 42,000 pounds of pistachio nuts that went missing earlier this month.

The Tulare County sheriff's office on Saturday announced it had tracked down the pilfered pistachios to a tractor trailer in a local parking lot.

Police said the alleged nut thief, 34-year-old Alberto Montemayor, had been planning to resell his looted cargo.

The region's lucrative nut industry has been the target of heists in the past.

The purloined pistachios were grown by the Touchstone Pistachio Company, which found that tens of thousands of nuts were missing in an audit this month.

Agriculture detectives in Tulare County liaised with investigators in two other counties before tracking down a vehicle belonging to Mr Montemayor, who works as a trucker.

According to the police, the nuts were being moved from their original 2,000lb (907kg) sacks into smaller bags for resale. The remaining pistachios were returned to Touchstone.

Mr Montemayor has been arrested and booked into a county jail."

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