Three arrested in plot to steal truck load of beef; thefts rising

By Meatingplace Editors on 5/27/2013

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Three people were arrested in connection with a scheme to steal a semi-trailer of processed beef from the Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Holcomb, Kansas, according to the U.S. Attorney for the district, who said meat cargo thefts have been on the rise.
Large meat packing plants in Dodge City, Liberal, Holcolm and Garden City, Kansas,  have been targeted on several occasions as such schemes have become more common across the country over the past few years, U. S. Attorney Barry Grissom said in a statement. Meat packing plants in Nebraska have also been victimized, he said.
The plants load dozens of semi-trailer loads per day of packaged meat -- a valuable commodity that is relatively easy to sell, Grissom said. A semi-trailer of processed beef can be worth $100,000 wholesale, he said.
Charged in the Kansas federal indictment were Oganes Nagapetian, 53, his wife, Larisa Nagapetian, 46, and his brother Tigran Nagapetian, 50. The three are also charged in connection with semi-trailer loads of stolen goods including shoes and almonds from companies in California. They face charges of conspiracy, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.  
The scheme
The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Wichita on April 23, alleges the defendants conspired in November 2011 to steal a load of beef from the Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Holcomb. The three allegedly used the identity of a legitimate trucking company in Pennsylvania to bid to haul the load of Kansas beef to California through a freight broker based in Ohio.
Once the hauling contract was awarded, a man allegedly fitting the description of Oganes Nagapetian used a counterfeit California commercial driver’s license in another person’s name and dropped off a trailer at the Tyson plant in Holcomb to be loaded. The man never returned because he suspected he was under law enforcement surveillance, according to the indictment.
A Tyson spokesman declined to comment on the incident.
Meat theft on the rise
According to Freigh****ch International, a provider of logistics security services, meat thefts jumped in 2011 in correlation with the high price of corn and increased value of meat. There were 17 meat thefts in the second quarter of 2011, up from seven in the first quarter.
“While 2011 was the worst year for recorded thefts of meats, thefts targeting these products remained higher in all four quarters of 2012 than in the years leading up to 2011,” the company said in a report