FRESNO, Calif. _ A Fresno man is in custody, accused of taking part in an elaborate scheme that involved the theft of $300,000 in pistachios from a Terra Bella farm and trying to sell them in Madera County, the Tulare County Sheriff's Office reported Wednesday.
Detectives say Bhavna Singh Sekon, 23, was part of a scheme that involved stealing the identity of a legitimate trucking company and taking possession of two tractor-trailer loads of pistachios valued at nearly $300,000.
Cargo thefts of the type that took place in Tulare County are a crime costing the trucking industry billions of dollars a year, according to CargoNet, which provides integrated databases to find stolen merchandise and trucks.
The firm Apex Capital says identity theft of the type used to steal the pistachios is a common crime that is easy to carry out. The firm said deactivated Department of Transportation permits are sometimes purchased and reactivated to pull off the scams.
Detectives were called Aug 14 to Setten Pistachio, where they learned of the theft. Instead of delivering the nuts, the thieves took them to an abandoned property in Selma, where they were repackaged, and sold to an unwitting buyer in Madera County, said sheriff's spokeswoman Ashley Schwarm.
Detectives reported that the suspects also used a big rig to steal the two trailers from a Fresno business.
The plan went bad because the trailers were equipped with GPS tracking devices, leading to the recovery of the pistachios and the trailers.
Sekon was arrested at his home and booked into the Tulare County jail on charges of grand theft, looting, identity theft and conspiracy.
More arrests are expected, Schwarm said.
In total, detectives recovered $294,000 in pistachios and $60,000 in trailers.
Anyone with information on this case is urged to contact Detective Bryan De Haan or Sgt. Bryan Clower at the Tulare County Sheriff's Office at (800) 808-0488 or anonymously at tcso@tipnow.com, or by text or voicemail at (559) 725-4194.
