Two Waukesha men were charged last week with allegedly stealing more than $3,000 worth of chicken, shrimp and frog legs from a local food service distributor.
Miguel Garcia-Salinas, 23, was charged on Thursday, Jan. 9 in Waukesha County Circuit Court with two counts of felony theft and one count of modifying computer data.
Pedro Maltos-Castro, 31, was charged with one count of felony theft.
According to the criminal complaint, Waukesha City Police were first made aware of the missing food items on Oct. 1.
Kevin Musser, Chief Executive Officer of Dierks Waukesha Foods, told police in the complaint that about 63 cases of shrimp had gone missing from the company's warehouse between June and October. He valued the loss at about $12,000.
Two detectives staked out the warehouse, 920 Gale St. in Waukesha, on the night of Oct. 18. The officers were notified at about 11 p.m. that several cases of shrimp and chicken had disappeared from the company's tracking system.
The detectives noted in the complaint that at 1:30 a.m. they observed a man later identified as Garcia-Salinas open a garage door to the warehouse. Another man identified as Maltos-Castro began handing off garbage bags to Garcia-Salinas, which he loaded into a waiting vehicle, the complaint states.
The detectives stopped the men before they left and placed them under arrest. Altogether, six garbage bags filled with about $3,165 worth of shrimp, chicken and frog legs were recovered.
Garcia-Salinas told police in the complaint that he and another man not currently facing charges had been stealing shrimp from the warehouse since mid-August. He said that he sold the shrimp to friends for about $10 a bag and had made about $3,000 thus far.
Today was the first day he decided to steal chicken and frog legs, he said in the complaint.
Maltos-Castro told police through an interpreter that he had worked for Dierks Foods for about seven years and had never stolen anything before the night in question, the complaint states.
Garcia-Salinas could face up to 20 years in prison and $60,000 in fines if convicted.
Maltos-Castro could face up to 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines if convicted.
Both men are expected to make an initial appearance in court on Jan. 27.