Investigators recover 12 tons of stolen coffee from Melrose Park, Illinois warehouse
Cook County Sheriff's investigators last week recovered 12 tons of a stolen substance with stimulant properties from a warehouse in Chicago's suburbs.
Was it cocaine? Methamphetamine? No siree. It was coffee. Old-fashioned joe.
The Cook County Sheriff's Police Organized Retail Crime Unit reported that on Monday, Dec. 15, they learned that stolen Wawa convenience store products were being stored a ta warehouse in Melrose Park, Illinois.
Sheriff's investigators entered the warehouse with the consent of the distribution company and said they found 24,000 tons of stolen coffee products, with an estimated value of over $100,000.
Investigators learned the coffee was taken from a facility in Whiteside County, Illinois, in the western part of the state near the Quad Cities.
Coffee prices soared to historic highs this year due to tariffs. Prices were already high due to supply and demand pressures for premium beans along with climate issues, especially crop-killing frost.
Then, back in April, the U.S. imposed a so-called reciprocal tariff of 10% on coffee-producing countries. Ghambari said it cost her roughly fifty cents a bag.
Coffee and other products were granted an exemption from the tariffs last month.