Beware the power of meat. Research based on meat consumption suggests that in 2018 it will reach levels of more than 200 pounds per capita. That's a lot of meat. Not nearly as much meat as Texas public servant Gilberto Escamilla was embezzling. Yes, you read that correctly, he was stealing meat. Not only was this man purloining proteins over a period of 10 years, but he was selling it for profit.

Escamilla worked at Juvenile Detention Center in Texas for years, successfully pulling off his covert meat heist. Being a public servant, he would order fajita meats for the detention center, then take the delivery personally and abscond with the product. Using money from the county, it was found that he had been doing this since 2008.


If you're wondering what one might do with such a quantity of meat, you're as stumped as us. Court filings said that he had been selling it for his own profit, which begs the question: Is there a black market for meat? That's a long time to be stealing large quantities of meat and successfully selling it to willing buyers. Whatever the case may be, he was caught.


In late 2017, an 800-pound meat delivery came to the detention center, whereupon the people receiving the order where beefuddled. Picturing the commercial dough mixers come to a halt in the kitchen, a realization: The detention center did not serve fajitas. Warning bells. The driver, also confused, reported he had been delivering the meat to the center for the past nine years.


Promptly arrested, Escamilla's house was raided and evidence of the black market meat stash was found cooling in his refrigerator.


"It was selfish. It started small and got bigger and out of control. It got to the point where I couldn't do it anymore," testified Escamilla, clearing his meat-laden conscience.


Apology notwithstanding, the total value of the thievery amounted to $1,251,578.72. That, plus a maximum fine of $10,000 is Escamilla's total tab he's been ordered to repay, all on top of a 50-year prison sentence.


Thievery in the restaurant industry is fairly prevalent, yet subtle. Restaurants tend to pay attention to the everyday equipment, the commercial dough mixers and other commercial grade restaurant equipment tasked with cutting meat and grinding meat. Few people are going to make off with stuff like that, but here's living proof that tricky heists can exist in something as seemingly minuscule as meat.