California nut crimes refers to the organized theft of nuts (almonds, pistachios, cashews, and pecans) in California. [1] [2] Reported cases of nut theft go as far back as 2006 with the worth of stolen nuts being millions of dollars. [3] The thefts demonstrate a high level of sophistication, encompassing identity theft and a deep understanding of computer security and logistics. [4]
Theft of food by organized criminal organizations has targeted a variety of food items in the past including oysters, bourbon, honey and Parmesan cheese. [5] [6] Theft of nuts is appealing to criminals because nuts have high market value all over the world, have a good shelf life and can't be traced using serial numbers or electronic means. Stealing nuts is non-violent and possession of nuts is also not illegal itself. [4] [7] California produces 80% of the world's almonds and 99% of America's, [7] and is the world's second largest producer of pistachios and walnuts. [4] California's nut industry makes over $9 billion a year. [5]
The majority of nut thefts were pickup frauds without any violence or damage to property. Methods used involve using fake trucks, scout trucks, fraudulent paperwork and getting information off the U.S. Department of Transportation website. [8] [6] Authentic trucking drivers would be hired for transporting the goods to warehouses, without actually knowing they were part of a theft. [8] FBI agent Dan Bryant said the thefts and fraud were conducted by 'sophisticated people'. [1] Other than the petty theft of nuts, large-scale nut crimes involve organized criminals who understand "the trucking business, identity theft, and computer security". [7] [4] [9] The thefts have been reported from areas in California such as the San Joaquin valley. [10] Authorities believe that some of the nuts are shipped abroad. [2] A good grasp of the shipping business and procurement of false shipping papers can result in the stolen nuts being shipped to other parts of the world. [11] A single case can involve the theft of nuts worth up to $500,000. [1]
National Public Radio (NPR) reported cases of nut theft in California in 2006. [3] In 2009, one incident of nut theft was reported to the US Department of Justice. [5] [6] Between 2013 and 2017 at least 35 truckloads of nuts worth about $10 million were reported stolen. [4] From four incidents in 2012 worth about half-a-million US dollars, nut crime rose to 31 reported incidents in 2015 valued at almost $4.5 million. [1] [7] This rose to over $10 million worth of nuts stolen from central California during the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016. [7]
The nut industry has implemented various measures to combat thefts such as fingerprinting and photographing truckers, verifying vehicle information, and utilizing RFID tags. [2] Law enforcement employs aerial and ground monitoring to track these incidents. [6] A few drivers have been arrested but the thefts continue. [12] [13] A trucker was given a fake driver’s license as well as directions as to where to pick up the almonds and where to deliver them. When he was arrested it was found out that he only accepted the job because he needed the $180 offered. [14] Law enforcement is aware that the masterminds behind these thefts are still at large, referring to them as the "bigger fish." [13] Armenian Power, a criminal group in Los Angeles, has been implicated in the crimes. [13] [15] California almond theft has also been linked to Pakistani terror funding. [16]
Marc Fennell created an audiobook about the California nut crimes titled Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist. [17]
Identity theft, identity piracy or identity infringement occurs when someone uses another's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term identity theft was coined in 1964. Since that time, the definition of identity theft has been legally defined throughout both the U.K. and the U.S. as the theft of personally identifiable information. Identity theft deliberately uses someone else's identity as a method to gain financial advantages or obtain credit and other benefits. The person whose identity has been stolen may suffer adverse consequences, especially if they are falsely held responsible for the perpetrator's actions. Personally identifiable information generally includes a person's name, date of birth, social security number, driver's license number, bank account or credit card numbers, PINs, electronic signatures, fingerprints, passwords, or any other information that can be used to access a person's financial resources.
Since the invention of locomotives in the early 19th century, trains have often been the target of robbery, in which the goal is to steal money or other valuables. Train robbery was especially common during the 19th century and is commonly associated with gangs of outlaws in the American Old West. It has continued into the 21st century, with criminals usually targeting freight trains carrying commercial cargo, or targeting passengers of public transportation for their valuables.
Carjacking is a robbery in which a motor vehicle is taken over. In contrast to car theft, carjacking is usually in the presence and knowledge of the victim. A common crime in many places in the world, carjacking has been the subject of legislative responses, criminology studies, prevention efforts as well as being heavily dramatized in major film releases. Commercial vehicles such as trucks and armored cars containing valuable cargo are common targets of carjacking attempts. Carjacking usually involves physical violence to the victim, or using the victim as a hostage. In rare cases, carjacking may also involve sexual assault.
Art theft, sometimes called artnapping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral to secure loans. Only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered—an estimated 10%. Many nations operate police squads to investigate art theft and illegal trade in stolen art and antiquities.
Metal theft is "the theft of items for the value of their constituent metals". It usually increases when worldwide prices for scrap metal rise, as has happened dramatically due to rapid industrialization in India and China. Apart from precious metals like gold and silver, the metals most commonly stolen are non-ferrous metals such as copper, aluminium, brass, and bronze. However, even cast iron and steel are seeing higher rates of theft due to increased scrap metal prices.
The Brink's Company is an American cash handling company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Its operations include cash-in-transit, ATM replenishment & maintenance, and cash management & payment services, such as vault outsourcing, money processing, intelligent safe services, and international transportation of valuables.
GardaWorld Corporation is a Canadian private security firm, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, with 120,000 employees as of January 2022. Its U.S. business name is United American Security LLC, dba GardaWorld.
Horse theft is the crime of stealing horses. A person engaged in stealing horses is known as a horse thief. Historically, punishments were often severe for horse theft, with several cultures pronouncing the sentence of death upon actual or presumed thieves. Several societies were formed in the United States to prevent horse theft and apprehend horse thieves. However, horse theft continues to occur throughout the world, as horses are stolen for their meat, for ransom, or in disputes between their owners and other persons. Horse theft today is comparable to automobile theft, a crime punishable by felony jail time.
Organized retail crime (ORC) refers to professional criminal enterprises ranging from regional gangs to international crime rings and other organized crime focussing on retail environments. Operations include truckjacking, shoplifting, smash and grab, cargo theft, and cargo diversion. One person acting alone is not considered an example of organized retail crime. Working in teams, some create distractions while others steal items judiciously, indiscriminately or violently. Often, they are stocking up on specified items at the request of the organized crime or gang leader. It is not uncommon for the criminals to have accomplices working in the retail store or corporation.
Sand theft or unauthorised or illegal sand mining leads to a generally unknown global example of natural and non-renewable resource depletion problem comparable in extent to global water scarcity. Beach theft is illegal removal of large quantities of sand from a beach leading to full or partial disappearance of the beach. In India, illegal sand mining is the country's largest organized criminal activity.
Construction equipment theft, is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal construction equipment, including all type of heavy equipments. Construction equipment theft has been recognized as a significant problem in the United States and elsewhere in the world, including Canada, Australia, Europe, and Japan.
The theft of The Weeping Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria took place on 2 August 1986 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The stolen work was one of a series of paintings by Pablo Picasso all known as The Weeping Woman and had been purchased by the gallery for A$1.6 million in 1985—at the time the highest price paid by an Australian art gallery for an artwork. A group calling itself "Australian Cultural Terrorists" claimed responsibility, making a number of demands in letters to the then-Victorian Minister for the Arts, Race Mathews. The demands included increases to funding for the arts; threats were made that the painting would be destroyed. After an anonymous tip-off to police, the painting was found undamaged in a locker at Spencer Street railway station on 19 August 1986. The theft still remains unsolved.
Proposition 47, also known by its ballot title Criminal Sentences. Misdemeanor Penalties. Initiative Statute, was a referendum passed by voters in the state of California on November 4, 2014. The measure was also referred to by its supporters as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act. It recategorized some nonviolent offenses as misdemeanors, rather than felonies, as they had previously been categorized.
In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, 13 works of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Guards admitted two men posing as police officers responding to a disturbance call, and the thieves bound the guards and looted the museum over the next hour. The case is unsolved; no arrests have been made, and no works have been recovered. The stolen works have been valued at hundreds of millions of dollars by the FBI and art dealers. The museum offers a $10 million reward for information leading to the art's recovery, the largest bounty ever offered by a private institution.
Cattle theft, more commonly cattle raiding or cattle lifting, is a property crime in India. In the ancient and medieval era India texts, stealing cattle is described as a crime and sin, a motif that appears in Hindu mythologies.
The 1972 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts robbery, sometimes called the Skylight Caper, took place very early in the morning of September 4 of that year. Three armed robbers used a skylight under repair to gain entry to the museum from its roof, tied up the three guards on duty, and left on foot with 18 paintings, including a rare Rembrandt landscape and works by Jan Brueghel the Elder, Corot, Delacroix, Rubens, and Thomas Gainsborough, as well as some figurines and jewellery. One of the Brueghels was returned by the thieves as an initiative to start ransom negotiations. None of the other paintings has ever been recovered and the robbers have never been arrested or even publicly identified, although there is at least one informal suspect.
On 25 November 2019, royal jewellery was stolen from the Green Vault museum within Dresden Castle in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. The stolen items included the 49-carat Dresden White Diamond, the diamond-laden breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle which belonged to the King of Poland, a hat clasp with a 16-carat diamond, a diamond epaulette, and a diamond-studded hilt containing nine large and 770 smaller diamonds, along with a matching scabbard. The missing items were of great cultural value to the State of Saxony and were described as priceless; other sources estimate the total value at about €1 billion. However, in the years following the burglary, more accurate estimates place the total value of the stolen items at around €113 million.
Package theft or cargo theft is the theft of a package or parcel. It can occur anywhere in the distribution channel.
At 2 a.m. on July 11, 2022, a Brink's truck driver carrying jewelry between jewelry shows in the U.S. state of California stopped at a Flying J truck stop near Lebec, north of Los Angeles. During this period, almost a third of the jewelry bags they had been transporting were stolen. It is believed, due to the amount of jewelry stolen in such a short time, that there were several people involved. Some of the jewelers believe that the theft was an inside job, or at least that Brink's may know more than it has publicly disclosed. Several experts have stated that it is unlikely that any of the stolen jewelry will be recovered because the stolen metals can be melted down and recast. Additionally, identifying marks on the stones can be eliminated by jewelers working with thieves. Police and the FBI continue to investigate but no suspects have been named.
