More than 24,000 bottles of Santo tequila — a brand founded by spiky-haired food celebrity Guy Fieri and 77-year-old rocker Sammy Hagar — reportedly have been stolen in a trucking heist.
“Reportedly” being the key word.
It’s not yet entirely clear whether the shipment was stolen or not, say Laredo authorities, although the two trucks delivering the tequila from Mexico’s state of Jalisco to the U.S. appear to have been diverted from their intended destination after crossing the Mexico-U.S. border in Laredo, Texas, and they remain missing.
The alleged crime occurred sometime after the tequila had been trucked to Laredo from where it was produced in Mexico, at the El Viejito Distillery in the state of Jalisco. U.S. media reports of it having been hijacked, however, are false, say Laredo authorities.
“There are no indications that these trailers were hijacked anywhere as alleged in national media publications,” Laredo officials said.
Nevertheless, authorities believe the trailers said to be carrying 24,240 bottles of tequila were diverted at some point during the weekend of Nov. 9-10.
The two trucks set out from the Jalisco distillery on Nov. 7 for a Lansdale, Pennsylvania, spirits importer in the U.S. that handles the tequila for Santo Spirits, which is touted as “premium” — though not the world’s best.
Sometime after it crossed into Laredo, Santo Spirits began getting what its CEO Dan Butkus described to USA Today as “fictitious updates from the trucker … about a breakdown … they were going to have to get some things fixed.”
He also said one of the trucks had used a GPS emulator to show that the product was still on its way to Pennsylvania.
The New York Times, People magazine, Forbes and other media outlets reported the story, most of them noting that the estimated value of the allegedly hijacked tequila was $1 million.
The Times even wrote that it would make for an excellent Hollywood pitch: “a heist movie starring a flamboyant television host and a veteran rock ’n’ roll frontman on the hunt for $1 million worth of stolen tequila.”
However, a report two days ago by the Laredo Morning Times was headlined “Laredo PD debunks $1M tequila ‘hijack’ that belonged to Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar.”
Citing a Laredo Police Department report, the newspaper wrote “further investigation revealed that no force was used and that the tequila … [had] a combined freight value listed at approximately $385,598.”
“At this preliminary phase of the investigation, it is believed that at some point the trucks with the tequila cargo were rerouted to California due to alleged issues with the warehouse at the original listed destination, which is still being vetted,” Laredo’s police department said in a statement.
The Los Angeles Police Department is now involved in the investigation, Laredo authorities added, because of “where both drivers stated the cargo was actually [being] transported to.”
As of Thursday, the cargo had not been located.
Laredo authorities also noted that no force was used, nor was either driver injured, and that the cargo left the Laredo warehouse with the trucking company “hired by the shipper” — although Butkus said his research shows that the job was actually transferred to another trucking company, a practice called “double brokering.”
An article posted on Barstool Sports, a controversial digital media company known for its irreverent and often provocative content, noted on “pure speculation” that “Guy is a marketing wizard.” Part of the headline reads, “Is Guy Fieri the Victim or a Genius Marketer?”
Fieri, 56, is the host of the TV show “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives,” and the owner of 17 restaurant brands. Hagar fronted his own band for years and also did two stints as the lead singer for the rock group Van Halen, from 1985 to 1996 and again from 2003 to 2005. The two men are friends and founded the Santos company in 2017.
According to Butkus, the missing tequila amounts to about 12% of the company’s annual sales. He said the trucks were carrying mostly cases of blanco and reposado tequilas but that there were also 240 bottles of extra añejo tequila that spent 39 months aging in single barrels — and typically sells for $119 per bottle.
Laredo police said that their only connection to this case is that the freight originated in the U.S. in their city.
“This is an ongoing investigation,” the department stated.
With reports from New York Times, Laredo Morning Times and USA Today
