Law enforcement remains shellshocked as the FBI investigates a heist involving a truck in Massachusetts carrying $400,000 worth of lobster meat destined for Costco stores in Illinois and Minnesota.
Dylan Rexing, the CEO of Rexing Companies, a freight broker based in Evansville, Indiana, told USA TODAY the incident occurred on Dec. 12. The shipment, a truckload of about 40,000 pounds of lobster meat, was scheduled to be picked up from a warehouse in Taunton, Massachusetts around 2 p.m.
But by 4 p.m., Rexing said his company worried the shipment had been handed off to the wrong person after the suspect allegedly turned off the GPS tracking.
"In this instance, we hired someone we thought was legitimate, but the legitimate carrier company was being impersonated by someone else in a very sophisticated way," Rexing claimed, noting that criminals access software used by freight brokers to pose as carriers.
The bandits changed the name on the side of the truck and created a counterfeit digital driver's license, he alleged.
"Definitely organized crime, no question," Rexing added. While trying to file a police report with the Taunton Police Department, Rexing said he discovered another large shipment of crab had been stolen in a similar incident on Dec. 2.
"In a 10-day period, two loads of seafood are missing from the same location in a small town."
When it comes to why someone would potentially steal such a large quantity of lobster, Rexing says organized gangs often sell products like this at a lower price and pocket the difference. For a shipment like the one at the center of this crime, the profit could reach $200,000, he said.
In the end, it's Rexing's business, Costco, and the insurance company that'll be stuck footing the bill for the lost merchandise. Even if police can retrieve the product, it won't be fit for resale following the theft.
USA TODAY contacted Costco and the Taunton Police Department for information.
Rexing says that the high number of thefts like these will end up costing consumers more at the grocery store, as companies charge for lost merchandise and for expenses related to preventing robberies.
"This is happening every day in our industry; it's not just me," said Rexing. "We can't eat these losses, our customers can't eat these losses without passing that cost on somewhere."
Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at mdelrey@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:$400k worth of lobster stolen from Massachusetts warehouse
