$600K Onion, Potato Theft Suspect Arrested In FL: U.S. DOJ

SPRING HILL, FL — A Spring Hill man was arrested for stealing more than $600,000 worth of onions and potatoes from wholesale produce companies, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.

Jason Canals, 39, was charged with eight counts of interstate transport of stolen property. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 10 years in federal prison.

He ran multiple schemes to defraud the wholesale companies.

In one scheme, he used a company’s name and email signature block without permission to contact victim companies requesting produce, the DOJ said.

While the shipments were en route, Canals diverted the produce to a new location and never paid the wholesalers.

In a separate scheme, Canals provided victim companies false documentation, making them believe he had prepaid for the produce when no payment was ever made, the DOJ said.

In total, between the cost of the produce and its transportation, Canals’s schemes resulted in a loss of over $600,000 to the victim companies.

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