Latest / Two Tools, No Clue / M6 The Great Maple Syrup Heist

Transcript

M6 The Great Maple Syrup Heist · Two Tools, No Clue

• Jey & Anna: Hey everyone, welcome to the Two Tools, No Clue podcast. I'm Anna. And I'm Jayden. And today on our mini-sode, which is not going to be a mini-sode because I was way too excited about it, we're going to learn about the great Canadian maple syrup heist. ⁓ my gosh, sounds like my cup of tea. So what do you remember about the Global Strategic Reserve in Quebec from what I told you in our last episode, which For listeners and viewers was last week. For you, was about a month ago. ⁓ that in Canada they have a reserve so that they never run out and so that the prices stay stable. Good job. Yeah, it's good synopsis. So the majority of the information I'm about to share with you comes from two sources, a documentary series called Dirty Money, the Maple Syrup Heist available to watch on Netflix. I'm totally going to watch it after this. and a YouTube video called the great maple syrup heist by the casual criminalist. All right, let's get into it. I'm so excited. am too. So as I said in the last episode, if you haven't listened to it yet, go check it out. Quebec has what is called a global strategic reserve of maple syrup. This reserve was the subject of a heist that took place between 2011 and 2012. And this heist is the subject of today's episode. yeah. But before we get into the heist, need to tell you a little bit about the global reserve and the federation. So the federation, the federation Star Wars. So in order to make and sell bulk maple syrup in Quebec, you need to go through what's called the federation of Quebec maple syrup producers. And the Federation, as it sounds, is a little controversial because some people in the maple industry are for the system that the Federation has in place, while others would prefer a free market. The reason some would prefer a free market is that the Federation created an exclusive selling agency within Quebec and blocks producers from selling anywhere else. ⁓ that's a little greedy. Just from my understanding. This is off of my own dome. I kind of liken it to like how Monsanto has a monopoly on the soybean. Yeah. But like maple syrup in Quebec. Yeah. They're very controlling about it. This is because, again, Quebec produces around 75 to 80 percent of the world's maple syrup. So, mean, kind of rightfully so. Yeah. They're like, listen, this is how we're going to do it. Get over The way the Global Strategic Reserve works is the Federation of Maple Syrup Producers set a limit on how much maple syrup individual producers are allowed to sell in a season and any excess is given to the reserve. This is in an effort to keep prices stable if and when the year's production isn't enough to go around and also to ensure the world will always have a steady supply of 100 % pure maple syrup. Such a serious business. will never fail you. You will always have maple syrup. And then half the world is like, what the f*** is maple syrup? You know what I mean? I didn't even know about maple sugar until last week. And I'm a New Englander. I love maple syrup, but I feel like there's genuine countries out there that they're like maple syrup. Well, you're missing out. You haven't tried maple syrup. need to try some. Delicious. You can't die without trying maple syrup. Anyway, from what I understand, the producers are paid for their overflow in quotations overflow syrup into the reserve. Right. They get paid for their overflow syrup when the reserve distributes it, usually in dry years when production isn't the best, but they don't get paid for it right away. ⁓ from what I understand. it can take years for production to be paid in full because it's only when it's yeah and Sounds like socials overflowing in quotes because if the Federation wasn't a thing there would be no such thing as overflow these Individual sellers would be able to be selling all of their maple time all of yeah As long as the year is good. Yeah, so it like you can see how the Federation is helpful in some ways, but also It's just like, how are you ever going to make like money money? Exactly. And the dirty money documentary goes into the Federation and like the the rebels is what they're called. The people who are trying. Yeah, they're trying to like outsmart the system and work around it. That documentary is a lot more focused on that storyline, whereas the YouTube is more about the heist. ⁓ Do you want to guess how much a single barrel of maple syrup in this reserve is worth on average? Keeping in mind there are 54 gallons of maple syrup per barrel. Holy crap. ⁓ $400 A single barrel of maple syrup in the global reserve is worth about $1,600 on average. I saw numbers ranging from anywhere between 26 to 30 times the price of crude oil in the US. Important ⁓ Canada does not mess around with their syrup, that's for sure. So let's get into the heist. On July 30th, 2012, inventory inspector, and these are all French names, so I apologize to our French speaking listeners. Michelle Guavereau. inventory inspector and he began his usual duties of counting the barrels in the St. Louis de Blanford warehouse which was about 30 minutes away from the Federation's main warehouse in Laurierville So the barrels were stacked upwards of 20 feet high and part of his job was to climb the mountain of barrels to get an accurate count. Each barrel weighed around 600 pounds, so climbing them was perfectly safe, or so he thought. Almost to the top, the inspector reached to climb onto the next barrel and was shocked when it tipped under his weight. He nearly fell, but was able to grab another barrel to save himself. the suspiciously light barrel, which smelled like maple syrup, but was full of nothing. It was empty. He began to inspect other barrels in the vicinity, including ones he had just climbed up, and realized many of them were also empty. He also realized many of the empty barrels had a ring of brown rust around the cap. At first, the Federation thought it must have been an inventory glitch, but three weeks later, they checked again only to find more barrels had been tampered with. On August 24th, 2012, The Federation of Maple Syrup Producers reported a theft to the Provincial Police Corps. Is it corpse? Do you pronounce the P? No, I say corp. Do you pronounce the S? I say corp. So you do pronounce the P? Yeah, I do pronounce the P, not the S. I didn't know. I figured I'd ask you. I guess I could have it up. So the police created a special team of around 250 officers to investigate this case. Agents began the grueling work of determining which barrels had been emptied and which were still full. Reserves main warehouse had a total storage capacity of 218,000 barrels. But luckily, the smaller St. Louis de Blanford warehouse could only hold 16,000 barrels. Still a lot of barrels. It's still a lot. Unfortunately, the situation became even more difficult when they realized some of the empty barrels had been refilled with water. making it harder for them to determine which had been tampered with. They couldn't just like bang on them and see if they were hollow. this happening for? ⁓ my gosh. We'll get to that. This guy probably Well a year. I already told you it happened for a year. ⁓ okay. So when the investigation started, there were no immediate suspects. So police met with 223 witnesses. ⁓ employees. Yeah, pretty much. Avik Karan. Again, I apologize for my pronunciation of these names. ⁓ He was someone they looked into mainly because his wife had a part share in the ownership of the St. Louis de Blanford warehouse. The Federation actually came to them asking if they could rent space to store their extra barrels. Apparently 2001 was - 2001? 2011 was an incredible year for maple syrup producers in Quebec. So a ton of maple syrup was being given to the strategic reserve. And I'd be pissed. Why? You're not going to get your money. Oh, if you're A producer? Yeah. I think I'll mention that later on. Let's sue the s#!t out of them. American way. Come here Canada. So before becoming involved in the warehouse in ⁓ Avik was actually convicted for being involved in a scheme of insurance fraud. Yeah, it's not looking good for you Avik. No. I don't know if it's Avik or Avik. It's A-V-I-K. Avik. Avik, I'm fine with Avik. Okay, well, we've already committed to it. Sorry, Avik. That's your name now. Avik was actually convicted of being involved in a scheme of insurance fraud, allegedly pretending to be an insurance agent and faking the theft of a car. So this guy's got history. ⁓ fancy. Due to the Federation's reputation for stifling the little guys, there was a thriving black market ⁓ maple syrup in Quebec. ⁓ Black market basically just means that the producers aren't going through the appropriate channels. the Federation wants them to take to sell their maple syrup. So radical producers would ship their syrup in unmarked trucks overnight to exporters who would distribute it for them in order to avoid their sales being tracked by the Federation. These middlemen driving between the maple producers and the exporters are called barrel rollers. ⁓ gosh, would want to be a barrel roller. That sounds like a badass job. I bet you'd be good at it. Like I'm just driving these barrels. You love to drive too. The fun fact barrel rollers are sometimes likened to rum runners during prohibition in the U.S. Apparently a few years earlier there was a smaller maple syrup theft totaling around a hundred thousand dollars that was investigated but never solved. Richard Valliere allegedly confessed to barrel rolling black market syrup during that investigation, but there was no evidence to convict him. He allegedly had been a barrel roller for the past 10 years. So needless to say, he was a suspect. He's like, I just rolled it. didn't steal it. Evidence found at the scene included fingerprints, footprints and scratches on the barrels. And the scratches were especially noticeable because the reserve uses special forklifts that don't leave marks like the ones found along the sides of the barrels. The special forklifts actually grip the barrels from the top, so they wouldn't leave marks on the side. These marks were especially helpful in determining which barrels had been tampered with. I bet they were so happy they figured that ⁓ yeah. Police were able to locate the establishment from which the unknown forklift that left the marks was rented from because the name of one of the renters matched a suspect they were looking into. Sebastien Jutras. Sorry. Sebastian confessed to repeatedly being a driver, but claimed he didn't know the syrup was stolen and agreed to testify against the others. ⁓ Apparently he was also the one who connected Avik Karon, and Richard Valliere to begin with. he knew of anyone who could sell maple syrup on the black market, and Sebastian knew of Richard's long history of barrel rolling. So in June 2011, there was supposedly a meeting between Avik, Sebastian, and Richard at the Madrid truck stop in Quebec. There, was decided that Avik would steal the maple syrup and Richard would transport and sell it on the black market. It was at this meeting that they officially decided to go forward with their plan. So here's how it went down. Avik and Richard rented storage space in the same St. Louis de Blanford warehouse the Federation was using for their overflow barrels. Nobody gave a second glance when they showed up because they thought they were going to their own space and nobody noticed when they walked right past their rental space into the storage of the Federation. For some reason, the small warehouse didn't have security cameras or alarms, just a couple of security guys. And they were like, hey fellas. when one barrel of maple syrup is worth $1,600. Yeah, and they were stacked 20 feet high. So there's a lot in there. What was it 16,000 barrels there. Paul Rulliard, the Federation's deputy director said, quote, "at that time, nobody could imagine that an organization of thieves would have the ability to take six million pounds of maple syrup," end quote. So they really didn't think there was any need for there to be security other than these couple of guys walking the premises. They allegedly tipped the barrels onto their sides and rolled them into their own storage space where a truck was waiting to be loaded. The stolen maple syrup was then brought to Richard's father's sugar shack where the syrup was transferred into different containers to be sold to Sebastian's employer Etienne St. Pierre, an international exporter who sold to the U.S., Germany, and Japan. Wow. Allegedly, they would immediately take the empty federation barrels down to a pond on the property to fill them with water, then transport them back to the warehouse. Etienne St. Pierre would rebrand the maple syrup to say it was from New Brunswick, which doesn't ⁓ strict syrup and kept the quantities low to avoid detection. They got away with this for a whole year. ⁓ Apparently there was one incident where a security guard caught them rolling barrels away from the Federation storage into their own space and the guard reported them to his supervisor, but the supervisor was apparently already being paid off by these guys. That's amazing. Business just continued as usual. That's incredible. Eventually, after successfully returning the barrels and not getting caught multiple times like many long-term criminals, they got sloppy. They decided that refilling the barrels with water was pointless and began returning the barrels completely empty, thinking the odds of an inspector touching those specific barrels and realizing they were light were low. But if you're stealing every barrel's worth, that's where you messed up. Fill it with water. Oh, yay. So, Avik and Richard. however, appeared to become more stressed and paranoid about their dealings as time went on, with one text explaining that the Federation was on their way to do their annual inventory. One said that a guy from the Federation had seen their truck, and another said, quote, we have to make the rust circles disappear, okay? And this brings us back to the inventory inspector, Michel Guavereau and his near-death incident on top of the stack of leading to the initial discovery. At the end of the day, 9,561 barrels had been stolen over the span of a year. That's 540,000 gallons of maple syrup or... Yeah, how much money? 12.5 % of the Federation's total reserve. How many barrels was it? 9,561. So do you want to guess how much all of those barrels were worth in total? Don't do the math, just guess. Like a million dollars. $18 ⁓ my God. Which is still the biggest theft it put back to this day. And just a fun fact that the biggest heist in the U.S. was $18.9 million. Wow. Which is right on track with that one. And the biggest heist in the world was more than $100 million. Wow. But that was like jewelry. Not maple syrup. Maple syrup though. Oh my god. I think that's the most impressive one. Yeah. Cause of the, cause of what it is. Listen, the one that happened at the Louvre recently. Oh yeah. Was hilarious. And the guy was hot. Yeah. Everyone was like, leave him alone. He's sexy. Let him have the jewels. police interviewed tenants, employees, other owners of the warehouse and were able to get some of the people that the thieves implicated to talk. They were able to obtain 40 search warrants of homes and vehicles from these interviews. With the warrants, they found shoe boxes full of cash, not incriminating at ⁓ all. Everyone has shoe boxes of cash lying around in their house. ⁓ and ⁓ phones the incriminating text messages I mentioned earlier. At Richard's father's shack, they found containers of stolen maple syrup that had yet to be sold to Saint Pierre for distribution. So that kind of like sealed the deal. In December 2012, Avik, Richard and Richard's father were arrested, soon followed by Sebastian, Saint Pierre and multiple accomplices. 26 people in total. having some technical issues with our camera. Two tools, no clue, but this episode comes out in May, but it is currently February and there's a snowstorm. So our internet isn't the best. So if for our viewers, if it just went out on you, we apologize. But hopefully the audio is OK. So on to the trial. Fun fact, we're laughing because we've done this three times already. Fun fact, the trial didn't start until 2017. So just a reminder, they were caught in 2012. So that's five years later. Richard pled not guilty to four charges, including trafficking and fraud, stating he wanted no part of the scheme to begin with. innocent bystander. Yeah. He had nothing to do with it. He claimed Avik refused to let him out of the arrangement and said he feared for his family's safety. Avik allegedly told Richard, quote "I know where you live." And that if he spoke out, he would get shot in the head. wow. Avik was the last to testify and strategy was to downplay his involvement. He claimed the Montreal mafia was involved, supplying drivers and equipment, but he eventually backed down from that claim. Is that real? That the mafia were involved or that he claimed that they were involved? That there is a Canadian mafia. Oh, yeah. Oh, OK. I guess I'm taking you more seriously. Montreal mafia, to be specific. Eventually, his lawyers convinced him to plead guilty in hopes of a lighter sentence of house arrest probation. So on trial, Sebastian Jutras ended up testifying against Avik Karan, Richard Valliere, ⁓ Etienne St. Pierre, his own employer. Wow. Like he said he would. He told them he would testify against them all. Etienne St. Pierre was a totally legitimate exporter, but moving and selling bulk ⁓ syrup produced in Quebec without going through the federation was and illegal. He claimed he was unaware that the maple syrup had been stolen much like Sebastian. So he's basically like, thought it was coming from New Brunswick. Yeah. What are you talking about? The jury found all three men guilty. Avik Karan received a five year jail sentence and a $1.2 million fine. Wow. Apparently he was pissed because he thought he was just gonna get house arrest or probation like his lawyers said. Bro, you were an accomplice for a fucking 18 million dollar heist. Like what are you talking about? Well he demanded to change his plea to not guilty saying his lawyers misled him. His request was obviously not granted. Yeah, you already confessed buddy. Etienne St. Pierre received two years of home imprisonment, Avik is ⁓ followed by three years ⁓ probation and a $1.3 million fine to be paid within 15 years. And lastly, Richard Valliere got the brunt of the punishment. The barrel roller received eight years in jail and a $1.8 million fine just for breaking the Federation's rules. He was also required to pay back what the stolen maple syrup was worth, which was nearly $10 million. Wow. So I guess they were like 18, whatever. I wonder if that's today's. I'm not sure how that works out. feel like they just tried to split it up between all of them. ⁓ maybe that makes sense. So just to make matters worse, his jail time would be increased by six years if he couldn't make the $10 million in 10 years. What? How's going to do that when he's in jail for eight? So basically he's going to jail. Yeah. For 14 years. ⁓ I be like, I'm not paying. Just send me to for 14. Yeah. ⁓ As for the others, Sebastian Jutras got only eight months in prison for his testimonies. Richard's father received two years of home imprisonment, followed by three years of probation, as well as a $9,840 fine to be paid in one year, punishable by six months of jail time if he didn't make that payment. None of the other accomplices were convicted. So today in 2022, Richard Valliere was granted day parole. Do you know what that is? It's a conditional release in Canada that allows an offender to go out into the community during the day and return to the correctional facility at night. So he was granted his day parole after serving four years of his eight year sentence. That's pretty cool. Since then, he's allegedly been living under supervision and is still required to comply with strict conditions. There's no news about whether or not he's been able to pay off his $10 million fine. There's no information about where Avik Karon is today. We can assume he served his five years in jail, especially since he was granted time served while he waited for his trial. Yeah, it was basically five years in the making. He does, however, have his own IMBD page for his appearance in quotes in the Dirty Money documentary. That's hilarious. And, All we know about Etienne St. Pierre is he served his house arrest sentence and is now free living in Kedwick, New Brunswick. So what a story. know, right? One impactful quote that I liked from the documentary was quote, "here in Quebec, drugs are just discriminalized, but they have criminalized maple syrup, which is more dangerous for people." There's also apparently a TV series called The Sticky on Amazon Prime that dramatizes the events of the Great Maple Syrup Heist. my gosh, what? We have to watch Yeah, I didn't watch any of it, so we have to watch it together. Heck yeah, that's what we're looks really good. And I'll put the link to that in the show notes if anyone else is interested in giving that a watch. apparently got 80 % on Rotten Tomatoes. Wow, alright. I'm here for it. And that is the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist. I know you're excited about that story and now I understand why. Yes. Because that was incredible. And like I said in the maple syrup episode last week, never in a million years did I think I would get to do a true crime episode on our homesteading podcast. About syrup. Yeah. Of all things. So cool. That was a great one. A great find. I still can't get over the amount of maple syrup Canada's hoarding like what are you doing you weirdos like maybe you wouldn't get stolen if you weren't hoarding so much maple syrup yeah I'm with the barrel rollers on this one but yeah thank you for that very good stuff. And as always we'll end it on a farmer's almanac so Today should be, if I got my dates correct, Thursday, May 14th. And today is Ascension Thursday. Woo woo! What's that mean, It's 40 days after Easter and apparently Jesus ascended to heaven today. well good for you, Jesus. Glad you got there. 40 days later. ⁓ Anyway, the conjunction, there's a conjunction of the moon and Mars as well today. And Mercury is in super conjunction. Super. Which means it's on the opposite side of the sun from the Earth. And today is the best day to cut hay, destroy pests and weeds, and wash your windows. Get out there and wash your windows. those windows squeaky clean. And then get your hay hay. And then follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube @TwoToolsnocluepodcast. or on TikTok @TwoToolsNoClue. You can also subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/TwoToolsNoClue and then go ahead and email us all your funny stories, your suggestions, ⁓ really anything. Comments, critiques. ⁓ Fact checks, because you know how we are, we're just Two Tools, we have no clue. So, know, clue us in at TwoToolsNoCluepodcast@gmail.com. Heck yeah. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you next week, guys. Wash your windows. Cut your hey. Bye bye.