Men arrested for stealing $65,000 in chicken wings

GEORGIA – In a bizarre tale, two African-American men have been arrested for stealing tens of thousands of dollars of chicken wings from a cold storage facility in Georgia.

Dewayne Patterson, 35, and Renaldo Jackson, 26, were charged with felony theft after allegedly stealing $65,000 worth of frozen chicken from the Nordic Cold Storage in Doraville, north of Atlanta. The two men were arrested Wednesday and released on a $2,950 bond.

In the brazen heist, the men, who were both employees at the facility, pulled up to the bay door and used a rental truck to load 10 pallets of Tyson frozen chicken wings at around midday on January 12. Jackson used a forklift to load the wings while Patterson served as a lookout.

However, managers recognized both men and they were arrested when they returned to work, according to Gwinnett County police.

CBS Atlanta reports that one five-pound bag of frozen Tyson’s chicken wings sells for about $12.50. The newscast estimates that about 26,000 pounds of wings were stolen from the facility.

It is still unclear exactly what motivated the unusual inside job but it is thought the suspects may have planned to use the chicken in run up to Super Bowl parties. It has been widely reported that there’s a nationwide shortage of wings ahead of the big game.

Police still have not confirmed whether they have been able to recover the chicken wings.

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