by Alicia Freese vtdigger.org A Vermont maple sugar business has admitted to unwittingly purchasing 12 tanker truckloads of stolen syrup, the Montreal Gazette reported Thursday.
Maple Grove Farms, of St Johnsbury, Vermont, got caught up in Quebec’ s cosmic-sized maple syrup heist, when police showed up with a search warrant on Oct. 19. The factory confirmed that it had purchased the drastically underpriced syrup from a major player in the heist at some point during the summer of 2012. No charges have been filed at this point.
On its website, the company claims to be ‘ the largest packer of Pure Maple Syrup in the USA’ and ‘ the largest manufacturer of Maple Candies in the world.’ It has operated in Vermont since 1915.
The heist ‘ an elaborate year-long operation that involved siphoning off $20 million worth of syrup from a Quebec warehouse ‘ was discovered in July. Eighteen arrests were made in connection with it. Richard Vallières, who allegedly sold the syrup to Maple Grove Farms, was among them.
Matthew Lindberg, the company’ s public relations representative, said in a statement that, ‘ Maple Grove Farms purchased the maple syrup in good faith with no reason to believe that it was coming from Québec or that it may have been stolen.’ Lindberg said press reports that the maple syrup was purchased substantially below normal rates are inaccurate. ‘ Maple Grove Farms is fully cooperating with the investigation being conducted by the authorities, including the Québec Police,’ Lindberg wrote.
Years ago, Maple Grove Farms had tangles with the state over allegations of misgraded syrup, the purity of its ‘ pure Vermont maple candy,’ and out-of-state sourcing of sap. In 2006 it removed ‘ of Vermont’ from its name when the state enacted stricter labeling laws.
February 7, 2013 vtdigger.org
Maple Grove Farms in St Johnsbury linked to epic syrup heist in Quebec
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on