Ex-worker sentenced in vanilla bean theft from warehouse

ROCKFORD, Mich. (AP) — A western Michigan woman will serve up to a year in jail and has been ordered to repay her former employer for more than $100,000 in vanilla beans stolen from a warehouse and later sold on eBay.

The Grand Rapids Press reports that 58-year-old Teresa Collins of Rockford was sentenced last week Tuesday in Kent County Circuit Court after pleading guilty earlier this year to embezzlement. Collins also will serve five years’ probation.

Authorities have said 50-pound boxes of vanilla beans were coming up missing at a Rockford-based spice importer. Collins was charged in March after a surveillance camera system was installed.

Spice Jungle and Beanilla co-owner Brent Reame said the thefts nearly destroyed the business.

Defense attorney Jason Rop said Collins has been eager to begin moving forward with paying restitution.