The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist (french: vol de sirop d'érable du siècle, lit=maple syrup heist of the century) was the theft over several months in 2011 and 2012 of nearly of

maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

, valued at C$18.7 million from a storage facility in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The facility was operated by the

Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (french: Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec, FPAQ) is a government-sanctioned private organization that regulates the production and marketing of maple syrup in Quebec. As of 2011, ...

(french: Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec, FPAQ) who represent 77 percent of the global maple syrup supply. Adjusted for inflation (2020), the heist is the most valuable in Canadian history.

Origins

In 1966, a group of maple syrup producers in Quebec participated in a joint plan to collectively market maple syrup. This effort inspired the formation of a larger agreement all across Quebec which became known as the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers. The FPAQ maintains a

strategic reserve A strategic reserve is the reserve of a commodity or items that is held back from normal use by governments, organisations, or businesses in pursuance of a particular strategy or to cope with unexpected events. A document issued by the US Departm ...

of maple syrup, officially known as the International Strategic Reserve (ISR) across multiple warehouses in rural Quebec towns.

Theft

Over the course of several months between 2011 and 2012, the contents of 9,571 barrels, valued at C$18.7M, were stolen in a suspected insider job from a FPAQ facility in

Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, Quebec Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, Quebec is a small town north east of Montreal, located on the Bécancour River in Arthabaska county in the Centre-du-Québec region. The town was incorporated in 1855 and has a current population of 1,011 inhabitants ...

. The syrup was stored in unmarked white metal barrels inspected only once a year. Thieves used trucks to transport barrels to a remote sugar shack, where they siphoned off the maple syrup, refilled the barrels with water, then returned them to the facility. As the operation progressed, the thieves started siphoning syrup directly off barrels in the reserve without refilling them. The stolen syrup was trucked to the south (Vermont) and east (New Brunswick), where it was trafficked in many small batches to reduce suspicion. It was typically sold to legitimate syrup distributors who were unaware of its origin.

Discovery and investigation

In July 2012, the FPAQ took its annual inventory of syrup barrels. Inspector Michel Gauvreau started climbing up the barrels and nearly fell, expecting barrels but finding them to be empty. Police later recovered hundreds of barrels of the syrup from an exporter based in

Kedgwick, New Brunswick Kedgwick is a Canadian incorporated rural community in northern New Brunswick, Canada. On 1 January 2023, Kedgwick annexed a large area including the local service districts of St. Jean Baptiste – Menneval and White's Brook, with parts of two ...

. Between 18 and 20 December 2012, police arrested 17 men related to the theft.

Perpetrators

* Richard Vallières (b. 1978), accused ringleader, sentenced in April 2017 to eight years in prison plus a C$9.4 million fine, with an extension to fourteen years if the fine is not paid. Later the

Quebec Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Quebec (sometimes referred to as Quebec Court of Appeal or QCA) (in French: ''la Cour d'appel du Québec'') is the highest judicial court in Quebec, Canada. It hears cases in Quebec City and Montreal. History The Court wa ...

ruled that was excessive and lowered the fine to $1 million. The

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

has since reversed that decision and reinstated the original fine. * Raymond Vallières (b. 1954), father of Richard, convicted of possession and was sentenced to two years in jail minus one day, followed by 3 years of probation. * Étienne St-Pierre (b. 1943), a New Brunswick-based syrup reseller, was sentenced to two years in jail minus one day, 3 years of probation and an $850,000+ fine. * Avik Caron (b. 1974), the insider whose spouse owned the FPAQ warehouse, sentenced to five years in prison plus a C$1.2 million fine. * Sébastien Jutras, a trucker involved in the transport of stolen syrup, served eight months in prison.

In popular culture

The theft was featured in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

documentary series ''Dirty Money'' in season 1, episode 5, "The Maple Syrup Heist". In 2022, Amazon announced it was developing The Sticky, a half-hour comedy series based on the heist.

References

{{Reflist, 35em 2011 in Quebec Crime in Quebec Individual thefts Food theft 2012 in Quebec 2011 crimes in Canada 2012 crimes in Canada