Authorities recover $40,000 of Busch products

BONNE TERRE — A Metro East Auto Theft Task Force, the Missouri Highway Patrol and the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department worked together to recover about $40,000 worth of stolen Anheuser-Busch products Friday afternoon.

According to the Highway Patrol, on July 20, a 31-year-old truck driver from De Soto picked up a trailer loaded with Anheuser-Busch from Granite City, Ill., without authorization from the trucking company for which he worked.

Investigators determined who took the trailer and found the man. The employee confessed and told police he drove the stolen truck and contents to north of Bonne Terre and sold it to a man for $3,000.

The St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department assisted the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Illinois task force with getting a search warrant for the man’s property on Berry Road Friday afternoon.

Of the 1,800 cases taken, 1,600 cases were recovered there. The product had a resale value of roughly $40,000.

“All of the product has to be destroyed due to the fact of where it was stored — in a garage,” a police officer said. It has been exposed to heat.

He said Anheuser corporate security took inventory of the product and transported it back. It will eventually be driven to another state to be destroyed.

The driver could face federal or state charges.

The person who purchased the product was not at the property at the time the search warrant was issued. As of 1 p.m. Saturday, he had not been questioned by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Charges for both are pending.

Teresa Ressel is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 179 or at tressel@dailyjournalonline.com.