Charges laid in Calgary meat theft that saw $5K of product stolen

Meat bandits sought after S.E. heist A southeast Calgary business has beef with thieves who broke in and made off with around $5,000 of meat.

Calgary police have laid charges in a brazen case of theft that saw an estimated $5,000 of meat taken from a local business.

The theft happened at Pre Pak Meats, a family-run business in the 4800 block of 32 Street S.E., on Monday, June 10.

The theft was captured on security cameras and shared with CTV News by Mark Leavitt, vice-president of operations.

The footage shows a man with a hammer smash a window to gain entry to the business at around 10 p.m.

He's seen loading up a car with stolen products, returning three different times over a two-hour span.

The car seemingly had a driver waiting inside.

Leavitt says around 400 kilograms of meat was stolen, valued at $5,000.

"They took probably four of five boxes of top sirloin, they took a box of beef trim, a box of chicken thighs and bison," Leavitt said.

"Depending where they go to sell that product could sell it for seven or eight thousand dollars easily."

Pre Pak Meats is a small distributor that sells to local restaurants, golf courses and mom-and-pop-type butcher shops.

"Most of the product he took is something we use for further processing, it's not necessarily you'd see necessarily on a retail shelf at Costco or something like that," Leavitt said.

"He stole a box of beef trim. You can't do anything with beef trim without grinding it, it makes ground beef," he said.

"He stole bison, which is random, and he seemed to go right for bison and read the label. The product he took is something you'd use for further processing. It's hip cuts you would use it to make jerky."

When employees showed up for work early Tuesday morning, they called police.

On Thursday, police confirmed Jeffrey McPherson, 43, was charged in connection to the theft, as well as a break and enter at Four20 Premium Market on 72 Avenue S.E.

He’s scheduled to appear in court on June 21.