Police in Kings County are tracking down the suspects believed to have been involved in stealing $50,000 worth of inventory from a Lemoore factory.
The goods are cheese: Mozzarella, to be exact, stolen from Leprino foods, one of the world’s largest mozzarella producers. “Their cheese is usually in the forms of 6-pound loafs, blocks, or also shredded cheese that comes in bags,” says Lemoore Detective Osvaldo Maldonado.
Maldonado says Leprino administrators became aware of more and more cheese missing over time, and suspect the thousands of pounds of mozzarella had been stolen over a period of two years. They’d also seen the cheese being sold on social media, and they came to the police armed with photos. “They described and confirmed that it was their cheese based on the way it was packaged, the serial numbers on the packaging, and just the way that the product looked,” he says.
From there, Maldonado says the cops tracked down sales of the stolen goods online, at flea markets, and on the streets in four counties. Eventually, they arrested two suspects, 24-year-old Jairo Mariano Osorio of Alvarez of Lemoore, and Roderick Domingo Ransom, a 34-year-old Lemoore resident and Leprino employee, who have both been booked into Kings County Jail.
However, Maldonado says some cheese may still be missing. The investigation is ongoing, and he invites members of the public with any information on the heist to call him at 559-924-9574.
