This is an IHeart podcast.

Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with IHeartRadio.

In the spring of 2015, Oregon-based snack manufacturer Bridgetown Natural Foods was expecting a shipment of almonds worth

roughly $184,000, but the delivery never arrived.

The 42,000 pound shipment had been picked up as scheduled on April 13th from Sunnygem,

an almond supplier in Wasco, California.

But somewhere in between pickup and drop-off, the almonds went missing and presumed stolen.

Authorities had no luck tracking down the cargo, and Bridgetown Natural Foods filed a lawsuit

against Sunnygem and a freight management company, Left Coast Logistics, seeking a declaration that it owed nothing

for the shipment it didn't receive. Almonds, it turns out, are super hot. Welcome to criminalia,

where we're talking about nut jobs. I know. I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. I'm Maria Tremarki.

And I'm Holly Fry. Commercial nut heists have become common in California.

Central California produces 98% of the United States pistachio supply, 99% of U.S. walnuts, and 80% of the

world's almonds. Plus, a small percentage of pecanes are grown there, and the state processes imported

cashews as well.

People steal nuts because they're worth a lot of money, or they can be.

In 2013, CBS Sacramento reported that the price of tree nuts more than tripled over just a few years,

from 60 cents to $2 a pound.

That means the combined value of California's almonds, walnuts, and pistachios is nearly

$9.5 billion.

Almonds alone make up nearly $6 billion of that total, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

That's a lot of nuts, and that's a lot of money. Roger Isam, president of the Western

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