AUSTIN — Police have determined the theft of $90,000 worth of beer from a distributing company in south Austin was an inside job.
Achilles Salazar, 22, is accused of stealing the beer during the entire month of September from his employer, Capital Beverage Distributing Company. A sizeable portion of the beer was discovered at a home in Bastrop County last week during an inter-agency investigation.
According to an arrest warrant, Salazar stole cases of Dos Equis, Modelo and Corona and resold it on social media. Salazar’s coworkers realized something was amiss when he was showing up to work around 2 a.m., which was two hours before his shift started. Employees said Salazar had been seen palletizing cases of beer but his job only revolved around loading kegs. Once Salazar was fired, the company told police the beer thefts stopped.
At the Dale home where the beer was found, Austin police, along with the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission and the United State Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found $100,000 in cash along with 20 firearms. Out of the firearms, one was a prohibited weapon and two were reported stolen. Police believe the operation was part of a larger fencing scheme. Two brothers, Byron Arana, 32, and Wilmar Arana, 29, were arrested and charged with selling alcohol without a license, which is a misdemeanor.
Once Salazar is arrested, he’ll be charged with 3rd-degree felony theft.
