California: Man arrested for stealing 42,000 pounds of pistachios
Law enforcement officials in Central California have arrested a 34-year-old man, Alberto Montemayor, for stealing 42,000 pounds of pistachios earlier this month.
The Tulare County sheriff's office announced that the stolen nuts were found in a tractor-trailer in a local parking lot and the thief had been planning to resell his looted cargo, according to BBC News.
The 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 worked together with investigators in two other counties before tracking down a vehicle belonging to Montemayor, who works as a trucker.
According to the police, the nuts were being moved from their original 2,000-pound sacks into smaller bags for resale. The remaining pistachios were returned to Touchstone.
Montemayor has been arrested and booked into the county jail. The company has not responded to news of the arrest.
The region's lucrative nut industry has been the target of heists in the past as it produces most of the country's pistachios, almonds and walnuts.
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