Sting operation leads to recovery of stolen Lincoln County beehives

A sting operation in Lincoln County on Sunday led to the very sweet recovery of a beekeeper’s stolen hives, valued at over $18,000.

A 35-hour investigation by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office culminated in the arrest of Perry David Bayes, 56, who was booked in the county jail on charges of possession of stolen property. Bayes has been connected to similar beehive thefts across the West, including up to 30 cases in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and California. Bayes is currently awaiting trial in the county jail in Davenport on $25,000 bail.

The bees were pollinating a canola field near Almira a couple of weeks ago when their keeper returned to find the hives missing, said Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers. Letting bees pollinate fields is a common practice in the area, Magers said, as it’s a win-win situation for beekeepers and farmers. This is the first time such a hive heist has occurred in Lincoln County.

“The bee keeper chop shop is something new to Lincoln County, but is not uncommon in California and other areas,” Magers said in a Facebook post .

The investigation that followed collected tips from farmers and beekeepers throughout Lincoln County and beyond. Beekeepers often mark their hives with a “brand” of some sort to distinguish them, Magers said. One tip pointed towards some hives in a field not far from where they’d disappeared with a brand that had “quite obviously” been painted over in an attempt to conceal it.

Magers’ office set up a sting operation to smoke out the thief. The farmer who owned the field texted Bayes to let him know the field would be sprayed with pesticide. Bayes arrived to load up the stolen hives and was quickly arrested by sheriff’s deputies waiting nearby.

Bayes’ other heists outside of Lincoln County may total up to $200,000 worth of hives, Magers said. He declined to provide further detail on the other cases in order to preserve the integrity of ongoing investigations.

Beehive theft is a common and growing problem in places like California, where keepers can make up to $200 per hive for pollination services in almond orchards. NPR reported that over 1,700 hives were stolen in California during 2016’s almond season alone. As Magers said in his popular Facebook post detailing the sting, “there is money in honey.”