Half a million honeybees dead in suspected poisoning at Army veteran’s farm

When Jerry Mattiaccio noticed the thick steel chains and padlock wrapped around the gate of his Virginia bee farm last Sunday afternoon, he suspected he had aggravated some neighbors. Not everyone loves living in the shadow of more than a thousand bee colonies, he thought.

He tried to cut open the lock on his own, but it proved too thick. When his staff arrived the next morning to help him slice through the chains, they realized this was no harmless prank.

“It was sabotage,” Mattiaccio said.

His eyes trained on the ground, Mattiaccio, 62, walked through the gate looking for footprints left by a trespasser. Instead, he found dead bees carpeting the grass, the thrumming buzz of his 5-acre property dampened by the death of not hundreds but thousands of Italian honey bees. Worst of all, he said, their tongues were sticking out – a clear sign of pesticide poisoning.

“At first I was in disbelief. I just could not believe this was happening,” he said. “It was premeditated, no doubt. I just can’t understand why anyone would do it. It doesn’t help them, it doesn’t enrich them. There’s nothing here that helps anybody at all.”

He estimates the death toll at half a million across 52 colonies, with damage totaling almost $20,000. He said the vandal sprayed 60 nucs – nucleus colonies that act as smaller starter hives used for creating new colonies or raising queens. For Mattiaccio, who relies on the bees for his business, Rock Hill Honey Bee Farms, the deaths were a shocking setback. Though he is confident his business will recover quickly, he said he is angry and wants the person responsible for the slaughter to be held accountable. The blow also comes as conservationists are working to replenish a dwindling bee population, with scientists warning that factors such as climate change, pesticides and viral diseases could wipe out 70% of honey bee colonies in the U.S. this year.

Mattiaccio said he reported the deaths to the Virginia Department of Agriculture, the Virginia Office of Pesticide Services and the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies arrived at the farm Monday afternoon to investigate the scene and take photos of the piles of bee carcasses mounting in the grass. A sheriff’s spokesperson confirmed Friday there was an ongoing vandalism investigation, but no one had been arrested.

Mattiaccio, a U.S. Army veteran and former defense contractor, took his frustrations to his business’ Facebook page after the discovery, posting photos of the massacre and offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Within a day, the post amassed hundreds of shares and comments, and Mattiaccio was fielding calls from people across the country asking how they could help.

Local businesses began chipping in to raise the award, which has tripled to $7,500. Mattiaccio said he hadn’t received any tips, but knew the sheriff’s office is investigating. In the meantime, he was left racking his brain for who it might be. A vindictive competitor? A fed-up neighbor? Rebellious teenagers?

In a follow-up post Wednesday, he directly addressed those responsible: “To the perpetrator, understand this. I am a soldier, I am a farmer, and I am undeterred in my course of action and will continue to be a farmer others can rely on to produce a quality product. Nothing you do to me will change that.”

Mattiaccio bought his first colony in 2010, seeking a hobby to help him escape the exhausting hours of his job as a contractor with the FBI. He began renting bees out to local farmers, and the business ballooned into an operation of more than 1,100 colonies that ships bees and honey around the world.

The first in a wave of local community members rallying to support Mattiaccio was Kelly Hunt, who messaged him on Facebook offering to double the reward.

Hunt, a lifelong Fredericksburg resident and owner of Mason Dixon Cafe and Eats Burgers, said she heard about the incident when her 25-year-old daughter came home from work Tuesday “practically in tears.”

The mother-daughter duo had gotten matching bumble bee tattoos years before, then just last weekend spontaneously decided to ask Hunt’s sister to join them in getting honey bee tattoos as a symbol of resilience and sisterhood after Hunt’s mother died.

The attack “really resonated with me,” Hunt said. “And being born and raised in Fredericksburg, I think it’s important to maintain a sense of community, so if we can help and catch whoever did it, that would be great. If they can do this to bees, who knows what else they are out there doing.”

Mattiaccio said he’s grateful for the outrage that he said “had spread like wildfire,” but the no-nonsense U.S. Army veteran was staunchly opposed to additional offers to begin a donation campaign on his behalf.

“I do not want hardworking people to pay for the screwup of some bitter individual,” he said.

Mattiaccio said his business will continue to thrive despite the demoralizing massacre. He plans to continue sending “honey slingers” to farmers markets, selling honey by the pound at 19 farmers markets across the DMV, including Manassas, One Loudoun, Falls Church, Spotsylvania County and Stafford County.

“You do what you need to do and you drive on,” he said.