BEAN STATION, Tenn. (WATE) — The Grainger County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after 80,000 pounds of beef was stolen from a meat processing facility near Bean Station.
According to an incident report by the sheriff’s office, the investigation into the theft of tens of thousands of pounds of beef from Southeastern Provision, LLC, began on Tuesday, March 25.
The report said that an officer spoke with the shipping manager, who said that at least two of the facility’s customers had not received their shipments of meat. The two loads, which were intended to go to Kentucky and Michigan, were picked up by a subcontracted company called “List Trucking Sales.”
Investigators wrote that information provided by List Trucking Sales appeared to be false and could not be verified.
The company that Southeastern Provisions contracted through for their shipments attempted to contact List Trucking Sales, but they did not get a response. Their dispatcher stopped responding. Identification for the drivers and List Trucking Sales was not verified at the time the beef was loaded.
In total, the two shipments contained 80,000 pounds of beef worth $350,000.
East Tennesseans may be familiar with the name of Southeastern Provisions from a controversial 2018 Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that resulted in nearly 100 Latino workers being detained.
A lawsuit filed alleged that agents engaged in racial profiling, illegal searches and arrests. In 2023, a federal judge approved a settlement in the lawsuit that gave the victims more than $1 million.