Owner of Lake Tahoe Brewing Company jailed on felony theft charge

UPDATE 4:33PM: The owner of Lake Tahoe Brewing Company was arrested Monday on a felony theft warrant involving brewing equipment sold to a man in British Columbia in which he paid the suspect $45,000 for equipment he never received, a Carson City sheriff’s detective said.

Michael Candelario was taken into custody on suspicion of theft of property valued at $3,500 or more. The dollar amount of the alleged theft related to equipment is $45,000, said Detective Sam Hatley. He was arrested at the Carson City brewery and booked into Carson City jail. He is being held on $25,000 bail.

In January, Lake Tahoe Brewing Company, located at the corner of South Carson and West Proctor streets, closed its doors.

On Monday morning, deputies were called to the brewery where a moving van was taking property out of the building. Dispatch said Candelario’s attorney was at the business. Candelario arrived at the building and was arrested. A warrant for his arrest was issued Monday morning.

According to the booking report, Candelario entered into a contract to purchase a beer canning machine from a manufacturer in Alberta, Canada. He paid approximately $17,000 as a deposit for the $50,000 canner, leaving a balance of approximately $32,000.

On or before May 2015, Candelario placed an advertisement on a brewery industry web site that offered to sell the canner. Candelario advertised that a potential buyer would pay Lake Tahoe Brewing Company $45,000, and in return the funds would be sent to the manufacturer, the arrest report states. Once the canner was completed, the manufacturer would ship it to the new purchaser.

The owner of Three Ranges Brewery in Valemont, British Columbia responded to the advertisement. The arrest report states he and Candelario made an agreement via email and telephone calls that he would purchase the canner. The victim sent three payments from May to July 2015 totally $45,000 via wire transfers to Lake Tahoe Brewing Company’s bank. Documentation was provided by the victim detailing the payments.

Candelario never sent the balance of $32,000 to the canner manufacturer in Canada. The victim sent Candelario several emails from May through September 2015 confirming Candelario’s receipt of payment and status of the payment transfer to the canner manufacturer. Candelario responded that the payment had been sent to the manufacturer. The company never received a payment from Candelario, who then emailed a copy of a check for the balance, claiming the check was in the mail, the arrest report states.

When questioned about the location of the check and then told to send a new payment via wire transfer with a tracking number, Candelario responded that he was sending a new payment with a tracking number. The manufacturer never received a new payment or a tracking number from Candelario, the arrest report states. Candelario then stopped all communication with the victim and the manufacturer.

The victim, a U.S. military veteran, having allegedly lost $45,000 to Candelario, had to cash out his retirement in order to purchase a canner for his brewery. The Carson City Sheriff’s Office detective working on the case confirmed through Candelario’s bank records as well as documents supplied by the victim that Candelario received $45,000 from the victim. Candelario’s bank account confirmed the check for $32,000 did not exist. The detective confirmed with the manufacturer that it had never received the balance of the canner from Candelario, the arrest report states.

When the detective contacted the suspect, Candelario said he was working out payments with his and the victim’s attorneys. Candelario provided the detective with names of two attorneys in Nevada that he was working with to resolve the dispute.

Thinking that the issue would be a civil matter, the detective called one attorney who stated they did not represent Candelario in the matter. The other attorney did not exist as an attorney in Nevada. Candelario later called the detective and stated he had been making payments to the victim’s Nevada attorney and that the dispute was nearly paid off, the arrest report states. The detective called the victim’s Nevada attorney who stated that payments had not been made.

An arrest warrant request was was submitted to the Carson City District Attorney’s Office and a warrant was issued from Carson City Justice Court for alleged theft of property, $3,500 or more, a felony.

In January, Candelario had sent a letter to his employees stating that the brewery had been operating at reduced capacity because of problems with their brewing equipment. He later confirmed to Carson Now that the main problem was with the boiler unit that they are not able to fix.

However, according to the lease, Candelario was responsible for repair and maintenance of the boiler.

While the letter said that the closing was temporary, it encouraged employees to "pursue other opportunities" and that final paychecks would be handed out.

There is a separate investigation going on and others who have said they are victims, said Hatley.