WAUSAU – Marathon County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a 37-year-old Bronx, New York, woman suspected to have been involved in scamming a Marathon County business out of $108,000 worth of maple syrup.
Maria J. Louis faces a charge of theft by false representation of more than $100,000. On Aug. 15, Marathon County Circuit Court Judge Suzanne O’Neill issued a warrant for Louis’ arrest.
According to the criminal complaint, a Marathon County town of Rib Falls maple syrup business was contacted by a person looking to buy a large quantity of maple syrup for a restaurant chain. The owner of the maple syrup business talked to someone who claimed to be in the purchasing department of the business and someone else who claimed to be in accounting.
The purchasing employee said the restaurant chain wanted 2,150 gallons of maple syrup. The maple syrup business agreed to sell the maple syrup for $50 a gallon. The $108,000 total bill was to be paid within 15 days of the receipt of the syrup.
More: Readers ask: Will Applebee’s in Wausau add IHOP? Here’s what the company told us.
The maple syrup business owner had an employee arrange for a semi to take the maple syrup to an address in Bronx, New York, according to the complaint. Once there, someone directed the delivery to another location in Bronx, New York.
When the owner didn’t receive payment for the maple syrup after 15 days, he began to make phone calls and learned the people he had talked to were not actually with the restaurant chain. The people who called used the names of actual employees of the company, pretending to be them, according to the complaint.
The maple syrup company owner called the FBI and then the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office. Marathon County investigators and the owner were able to trace some of the stolen maple syrup to an Amish discount store in Pennsylvania. The store had bought a pallet of the maple syrup from a bulk distribution company called Amazing Discounts, according to the complaint.
More: Get ready, Rib Mountain: Chipotle Mexican Grill sets opening date for area restaurant
The owner of Amazing Discounts was able to prove he purchased 20 pallets of the maple syrup from a company called Camenha Corp. for $33,390, according to the complaint. Investigators learned the sole contact for the company was Louis.
Investigators also were able to learn the address where the maple syrup was delivered in the Bronx, New York, was the Louis’s address, according to the complaint.
If convicted, Louis faces a maximum sentence of seven-and-a-half years in prison followed by five years extended supervision.
Contact Karen Madden at kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
This article originally appeared on Wausau Daily Herald: New York woman suspected of stealing maple syrup from Wisconsin firm
