California police recover almost $1 million in stolen beehives

Sheriffs in Fresno California have finally cracked the case that had several states buzzing.

Acting on a tip, the sheriffs arrested 51-year-old Pavel Tveretinov for stealing $875,000 worth of beehives.

Bees are brought to California annually to pollinate produce. Almond growers in particular depend upon bees trucked in from out of state.

A combination of bee die-offs and almond demand sent the price of hive skyrocketing. As the value went up, hives started disappearing.

Police had no leads until a beekeeper, looking for an empty lot to store some hives, stumbled across some bee boxes he recognized—bee boxes stolen from a friend who kept bees in Missouri.

Tveretinov was working as a beekeeper when he saw a way to make more profit for less effort.
He’s within the beekeeping community, so he has relationships with other beekeepers, and he would befriend them, work on projects together,” explained Fresno County Sheriff Sgt. Arley Terrance. “He was aware of other bee contractors that are placing bees out in orchards and he would go and steal them.”