Call it "caught red meat handed," as the office of Pa. Attorney General Michelle Henry said that three men were arrested after police allegedly caught them in the middle of stealing nearly a ton of beef from a tractor-trailer in Northeast Philadelphia on Tuesday.
The arrests, Henry's office said, were part of "Operation Beef Baron," an investigation that recently saw four other men arrested on allegations that they were stealing meat, alcohol, seafood from trucks along NJ Turnpike.
According to Henry's office, Douglas Mathis, 36, Jamir Scott, 25 and Tariq Duncan, 31, all from Philadelphia, have been charged with corrupt organizations, theft, and related offenses following their arrests on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024.
The three men were arrested on Tuesday morning as they were, allegedly, in the act of stealing 1,600 lbs. of beef from a locked tractor-trailer parked along the 7300 block of Edmund Street in the Holmesburg section of Northeast Philadelphia.
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“This was tenacious investigative work that involved collaboration between law enforcement agencies to stop high-value thefts from parked tractor trailers,” Henry said in a statement on the arrests. “I commend the timely work of our Organized Crime Section who tracked this crew and, essentially, caught them in the act.”
The men, police said, were wearing dark clothing and masks at the time of their arrests and, police officials said that the men were witnessed "breaking a lock on the tractor-trailer and carrying 25 cases of beef — valued at $7,000 — from the rig to their van."
At arraignments Tuesday, Henry's office said that each men were held on bail that was set at $200,000 for each individual.
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