The Quebec Man Behind Canada’s Notorious Maple Syrup Heist Is Heading To The Supreme Court
Bottles of maple syrup on a production line.
Who could forget the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist of 2012?
In November 2016, Quebec's Richard Vallières was convicted of stealing and trafficking 9,571 barrels of maple syrup in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford worth $18 million.
He was initially fined nearly $9.4 million and sentenced to eight years in prison — plus six more years if he failed to pay his fine.
Vallières appealed the fine and won, as the Quebec Court of Appeal deemed the fine set in Superior Court to be "exorbitant" since it was not "equal to the value of the property that the accused had in his possession or under his control."
The judges changed the fine to $1 million.
But this is where things get sticky. The prosecution then appealed the Court of Appeal's decision to adjust the fine.
Today, the Supreme Court of Canada — the highest court in the country — announced that they have granted "the application for leave to appeal," which essentially means they will be hearing the case to decide whether the fine should be adjusted once again.
Between the recurrent legal proceedings and the Netflix documentary, this will likely go down in history as one of Quebec's most infamous — and most Canadian — crimes.
