They’re not pecans (pies!), pistachios (good in ice cream!), almonds (easy snack!) or even cashews (bar nuts!), but simple walnuts.* To be exact, 80,000 pounds of walnuts, and they were coveted enough to be stolen in the last two weeks from Tehama County in California. Sounds like someone either loves them some walnuts or just wants to make some money from the stolen goods.

Two companies who purchased around 40,000 pounds of walnuts each from a company in California have reported the shipments stolen in the last two weeks, reports the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. Police are sniffing around for a delivery driver with a Russian accent who’s been deemed suspicious.

On Oct. 26, the county sheriff’s office received a call from a freight brokerage firm saying that a truckload of 40,000 pounds of walnuts never showed up in Miami, two day after it was scheduled to arrive. That order had been picked up by a driver with a Russian accent in a white semi-truck on Oct. 19.

While that investigation was ongoing, police discovered that a delivery driver with a Russian accent in a white semi-truck had also picked up another similar load of walnuts on Oct. 23 that were supposed to go to Texas. Those walnuts never arrived at their destination, either, say cops.

As deputies started putting the pieces together, they discovered that the man who picked up the nuts wasn’t the guy who was supposed to in the first place. He somehow obtained purchase numbers and showed those to the companies in order to pull off the heist. The total value of the nuts is around $300,000.

This isn’t the first theft of a large amount of food we’ve seen lately — Canadian authorities recently recovered a stolen maple syrup reserve that was pilfered from a warehouse in Quebec. Stop stealing our treats, snacks, salad additions and sugary pancake toppings, people! We need this stuff.

*To be fair, we’re sure walnuts are the favorite nuts for plenty of people. They are great in salads, after all.

More than 80,000 lbs. of walnuts stolen; Tehama deputies say delivery driver is the suspect [Record Searchlight]

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