DELANO — California detectives say they’ve solved the curious caper of the purloined pistachios.
The heist was a nutty one, but nothing new to investigators in America’s most productive farmland. In a nutshell, an audit by the Touchstone Pistachio Company in the San Joaquin Valley discovered that 42,000 pounds (19,050 kilograms) were missing.
The company contacted the Tulare County sheriff’s agricultural crimes unit on Thursday, the sheriff’s office wrote in a Facebook post.
The trail led to parking lots in Delano, 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, authorities said. Investigators found a tractor-trailer there on Friday containing the remaining nuts, which were returned to the Touchstone Pistachio Company.
Detectives determined that the pistachios were being transferred from their 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) sacks into smaller bags for resale, the sheriff’s office said.
A 34-year-old man was arrested. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
