Three charged in meat theft

Three people have been charged with stealing more than a million-and-a-half dollars worth of meat over several years from a southwest Minnesota packing plant.

PM Windom company officials stopped a delivery truck about to leave the plant and found that it was carrying more meat than the driver had paid for, said Cottonwood County Attorney Nick Anderson. They also found that the truck was packed with high-quality steaks, instead of the beef trimmings listed on the sale bill.

"It turned out that he had paid approximately $3,000 for the trimmings but he really received approximately $21,000 worth of high-quality meat," Anderson said.

The thefts from the PM Windom beef packing plant were discovered last February.

Anderson says investigators believe the scheme started in 2010. He estimates about $1.6 million of meat was stolen in more than 250 separate transactions. The criminal complaint alleges that some workers inside the plant were involved in the thefts.

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