A man described as one of the ringleaders in the 2012 theft of $18.7 million worth of maple syrup has been sentenced to eight years in prison, but that term could be extended if he can't pay his multimillion-dollar fine.

On Friday, a Trois-Rivières, Que., judge handed Richard Vallières his eight-year sentence and fined him nearly $9.4 million.

If Vallières does not pay the fine, he will have to spend an additional six years behind bars.

The elaborate maple syrup robbery involved 3,000 tonnes of syrup from a warehouse belonging to the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers — the regulatory body that controls and manages the syrup trade.

The heist was discovered when a routine inventory check in July 2012 turned up an empty barrel that was supposed to be full of syrup. Officials with the federation quickly realized that dozens of its barrels contained not syrup, but water.

The resulting investigation by Quebec provincial police led to the arrests of 26 people.

Vallières was found guilty of theft, fraud and trafficking stolen goods. During his trial in Quebec Superior Court, he said that he had filled the barrels with water. His lawyer argued he had been coerced to fill the barrels with water by a man who carried a gun.

But witnesses called by the Crown painted him as one of the ringleaders of the heist.

Vallières's co-accused, his father Raymond, and a New Brunswick-based syrup reseller, Etienne St-Pierre, have also been found guilty for roles in the robbery.

All three men are appealing their convictions.</s>A man found guilty of setting up a maple syrup heist in Quebec has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

 

 Richard Vallieres has also been fined $9.4 million – and if he can’t pay the fine, he will have to spend an additional six years in prison.

 

 In 2012, 2,700 tonnes of Quebec maple syrup valued at $18 million was taken from a warehouse belonging to the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers.

 

 Vallières was found guilty of theft, fraud and possession of maple syrup on Nov. 12.

 

 His father Raymond Vallières was found guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking, and Étienne St-Pierre was found guilty of fraud and trafficking. They each received a sentence of two years less a day to serve in the community, as well as a three-year probation, and both are also required to pay fines lest they serve more time.

 

 The three were sentenced in a Trois-Rivières courthouse Friday.

A total of 26 people were accused of being involved in the robbery.

 

 The case made international headlines after the sweet stuff was reported missing following a routine inventory check at a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, Que.

An investigation was launched after the barrels of syrup were found to have been drained and replaced with water.

Officers from the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement helped Quebec police in the investigation.

 

 Richard Vallieres is appealing his conviction.

 

 With a report from The Canadian Press</s>A Canadian man who led the 2012 heist of millions of dollars worth of maple syrup received an eight-year prison sentence and multi-million dollar fine on Friday.

Richard Vallières was fined $9.4 million, and will have to serve six additional years in prison if he does not pay it, for the theft of $18.7 million worth of maple syrup, the CBC reports . The 2012 theft involved taking 3,000 tons of maple syrup from a warehouse that belonged to the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, which regulates the syrup trade.

Officials realized the maple syrup was missing in July 2012 when they found dozens of barrels filled with water instead of syrup. Twenty-six people were arrested in an investigation into the missing syrup.

Vallières was found guilty of theft, fraud and trafficking stolen goods. His father, Raymond, and syrup reseller Etienne St-Pierre, have also been found guilty for taking part in the heist. The three men will appeal their convictions, according to the CBC.</s>Three men convicted in connection with the theft of $18 million worth of maple syrup in Quebec were sentenced on Friday to between two and eight years.</s>Three men convicted in connection with the theft of $18 million worth of maple syrup in Quebec were sentenced on Friday to between two and eight years.

Superior Court Justice Raymond Pronovost sentenced Richard Vallieres to eight years in prison, confiscated $606,500 from him and fined him another $9.4 million.

Vallieres, who was convicted of theft, fraud and receiving stolen goods, will have to pay back the money over a 10-year period or risk having his sentence increased by six years.

The other two men, Raymond Vallieres and Etienne St-Pierre, were each sentenced to jail terms of two years minus one day, to be served in the community, as well as three years probation.

Raymond Vallieres will be required to pay $9,840 within one year, or go to jail for six months, while St-Pierre must pay $1.3 million over 15 years or be imprisoned for five years.

A fourth man charged in the case, Jean Lord, was acquitted.

The sentencing proceedings took place in a courtroom in Trois-Rivieres, Que., 140 kilometres northeast of Montreal.

Jurors found the three men guilty last November in connection with the theft of 2,700 tons of syrup worth $18 million from a warehouse in Quebec between August 2011 and July 2012.

The case made international headlines after the sweet stuff was reported missing following a routine inventory check at a warehouse in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, Que.

An investigation was launched after the barrels of syrup were found to have been drained and replaced with water.

Officers from the RCMP, the Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement helped Quebec police in the investigation.</s>MONTREAL – Three men convicted in connection with the theft of $18 million worth of maple syrup in Quebec were sentenced on Friday to between two and eight years.

Superior Court Justice Raymond Pronovost sentenced Richard Vallieres to eight years in prison, confiscated $606,500 from him and fined him another $9.4 million.

Vallieres, who was convicted of theft, fraud and receiving stolen goods, will have to pay back the money over a 10-year period or risk having his sentence increased by six years.

The other two men, Raymond Vallieres and Etienne St-Pierre, were each sentenced to jail terms of two years minus one day, to be served in the community, as well as three years probation.

Raymond Vallieres will be required to pay $9,840 within one year, or go to jail for six months, while St-Pierre must pay $1.3 million over 15 years or be imprisoned for five years.

A fourth man charged in the case, Jean Lord, was acquitted.</s>Even though Ron Rynard has lived in Shepherd his whole life, he’s never gotten tired of maple syrup.

He remembers as a child a relative scolding him, telling him he was going to get sick because he was going overboard in his syrup intake.

“I love the stuff,” he said. “I remember being down here as a kid drinking it.”

On Friday, Rynard was at the Shepherd Sugar Bush, a place he can often be found during maple syrup season, with other volunteers taking care of final details before opening to the public for tours during the Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival.

Tasks included packaging up syrup and other maple products to sell at other venues during the festival.

As Craig Myers packaged chocolate covered candies made by Lansing confectioner with cream made from Shepherd syrup, Rynard was using a spatula to scrape out the last of the maple cream from a machine that was pouring it into plastic containers.

Rynard, president of the Sugar Bush, and others do a lot more than just boil sap into syrup before the annual festival.

Some of the work is complicated, such as making the cream two different ways - one for the chocolate candies and another for the tubs that is thinner and spreadable.

Making syrup involves evaporating then bringing the sap to roughly seven degrees above the boiling point, but that number varies depending on altitude.

Rynard said water boils at about 210 degrees in Shepherd, so the temperature is brought up from that point, and the sap is boiled.

Making the candy and cream is more complex.

To make the spreadable cream, syrup is brought to 234 degrees until it reaches the right consistency, then it is cooled quickly and put in a stirring machine.

Cream for the chocolate covered candy is created by heating the syrup to 236, then cooling quickly and stirring.

Spreadable cream is popular is a topping on toast, English muffins, bagels, biscuits and pancakes.

Maple leaf-shaped lollipops require bringing the syrup to 244 to 245 degrees before being poured into molds.

“Like any maple confection, the more you boil it down the more condensed it gets,” Rynard said.

As Myers continued packaging the chocolate covered maple creams, Rynard said maple peanuts were going to be in the works later in the day.

Because they are also selling maple pecans this year as well, they were not planning on making as many peanuts.

Maple peanuts and pecans are made by boiling syrup in the same container used for the cream, then taking it to candy temperature and pouring the nuts into the candy.

Unlike brittle, the candy breaks up and coats the peanuts and pecans similar to honey.

Bottles of maple syrup in various sizes were lined up in the lobby at the Sugar Bush, along with maple sugar, Golden maple root beer, lollipops, candy, pancake batter and maple pecans.

Three kinds of fudge - regular, cranberry and walnut were also ready for sales.

Open houses at the Sugar Bush will be today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.</s>Leo Komarov, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk look out of place in a Toronto Maple Leafs' roster loaded with young inexperienced players who are years away from their prime. The trio has seen their former teammates leave one after another in the past few seasons as the team continues to embrace a youth movement, and now one of them may be on the move as well as the three of them enter the final year in their contracts.

(Photo: Reuters/Aaron Harris)Toronto Maple Leafs Tyler Bozak (L) and teammate James van Riemsdyk (2nd L) celebrate van Riemsdyk's goal near Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller and Alexander Sulzer (R) during the second period of their NHL hockey game in Toronto, Feb. 21, 2013.

All three will become sought-after rental players next season and the Maple Leafs will likely get a nice return if they trade them. But it looks like van Riemsdyk and Bozak want to stick around and play for the Maple Leafs next season.

"I've loved playing here ever since I came here. How I've been treated is great. It's a place I want to play for as long as I can. Where that takes things, we'll see what happens. I love playing here," van Riemsdyk said during locker clean-out day earlier this week, via Maple Leafs Hotstove.

"Hopefully I'll be here at the start of next year. I've been through a lot here, and to see where we're going now, it's something I'd like to be a part of. I thought I had a good year and played well. The rest is out of my control," Bozak stated, according to Sportsnet.

It sounds like Komarov is expecting to return as well and he said he's going to get ready for next season after he gets a little rest this summer.

Of course, the Maple Leafs can always sign them to extensions. But if they do that, things will get a bit complicated cap-wise in the next few summers when a number of their young forwards come off their entry-level contracts.

The Maple Leafs can't possibly keep all three of them after next season and this may force the team to trade at least one of them.</s>Chardon Square was abuzz with activity April 26 as crews toiled like worker bees to get everything ready for the opening of the 88th Annual Geauga County Maple Festival.

Jam-packed with perennial favorites like the ever-popular parades on April 29 and April 30, Pancakes in the Park, Invitational Lumberjack Competition, kiddie tractor pull and signature bathtub races, organizers say this year’s festivities are sure to entertain guests of all ages.

“There’s a ton going on this year,” said one of the festival’s directors, Jen Freeman of Richards Maple Products, Inc. “The maple stirs and pancake breakfasts are always popular, of course. Then, there are the lumberjacks. They’re always very popular. I mean, usually there’s seating for 500 to 600 and that’s always full for the lumberjacks. The parades are always huge. The whole festival stops for that. And the kiddie tractor pulls are always huge, too.”

In fact, the kiddie tractor pulls, which have only been a part of the Maple Festival for the last few years, are so popular Freeman said she’s never actually been able to watch one.

“I’ve never been able to see that because of the huge crowd around it,” she said. “But that’s actually a good problem to have.”

Inside the maple producers’ display booth, Newbury Township resident Stephanie Bartlett and Dee Belew from Auburn Township were tackling another good problem April 26: where to put all the award-winning maple syrup and other sap-sweetened goodies.

The pair were organizing all the maple goods so visitors can get a glimpse of them before they go to auction April 30, where the best bottles of the amber stuff can fetch a pretty penny.

“Last year, the No. 1 (ranked) bottle went for $1,900,” Bartlett said, adding that before the auction, entries are judged on their density, color, flavor and clarity.

Both ladies produce their own maple syrup, sourced from maple trees on their respective properties. And both agreed it’s a labor of love.

“Maple producers do not have blood in their veins,” Belew said. “They have sap.”

“When you get into it, there are no half measures. Once you do, you do it,” she said. “It takes a lot of commitment and a lot of time.”

As Bartlett and Belew fine-tuned their sweet display, numerous vendors, carnival-ride attendants and laborers roamed the square, fastened fixtures, connected cables and hoses, and readied their stations for the onslaught of visitors who will surely seek the sugary fare at Chardon’s signature fair.

One such laborer was April Miller, a Montville Township resident who works for Quaker Confections. She said the Geauga County Maple Festival is a favorite fair.

“I love it — for two reasons,” she said as she hooked up a hose to run to the elephant ear/funnel cake contingent of her business’s footprint at the festival (Quaker Confections also has an ice cream stand in front of the library and the pink elephant ear stand on the square.) “No. 1, ‘cause of the whole hometown thing. And, No. 2, it’s the first one of the season.”

She said it’s evident on festival-goers faces that they’re happy it’s fair season once again.

“Absolutely — it definitely shows,” she said of folks’ eagerness to be at a fair.

She added that, ironically enough, attendance seems to peak when the weather isn’t so nice.

“It’s actually better when the weather’s not nice, because (when it’s nice) they’re all out doing yard work,” she said. “So, when it’s a little rainy, there are actually more people here.”

Whether it rains or shines this weekend, the Geauga County Maple Festival kicks off April 27 at noon with the official opening of the concessions and rides. It runs through 7 p.m. April 30. For a complete schedule, visit the festival’s Website.</s>The Toronto Maple Leafs have issued the ultimate diss to their fans, some say — after the team unfollowed thousands of people on Twitter Friday.

Leafs fan were quick to ask the team why they had been unfollowed. Some even referred to "shady stuff" going on.

Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment did not immediately respond to CBC Toronto's request for comment, but a new account claiming to be the "official Maple Leafs fan interaction account" has since cropped up.

It said the new account will be able to "interact with the fans more efficiently."

Still, many Twitter fans were not impressed. Some claimed to have hurt feelings, while others were calling the move an outright betrayal.

One account proposed fans retaliate by blocking the Maple Leafs from their own timelines.

The alleged new account — @TMLTalk_Leafs — is now following just over 130 people.
Richard Vallières, convicted of stealing 3,000 tonnes of maple syrup from a Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers warehouse in 2012, is sentenced to eight years in prison and fined $9.4 million, adjustable to fourteen years on non-payment of the fine.