Eleven individuals, many of them illegal aliens, were arrested near Palm City, Florida, and charged with stealing 6,000 pounds of a local farmer’s saw palmetto berry crop.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Deptartment announced the arrests after being called by a local citizen who felt the group of men all dressed in black looked suspicious as they toted buckets out of the grove filled with the valuable berries, WBPF-TV reported.
Two of the alleged thieves are American, and the rest are Guatelaman, KOMO News noted.
During a press conference announcing the arrests, Sheriff John Budensiek noted that saw palmetto farming is a $150 million business in the area.
Sheriff Budensiek told the media that his deputies set up a surveillance post and recorded the migrants repeatedly walking out of the grove carrying buckets loaded with the berries and dumping them in a U-Haul trailer nearby.
“We knew that this was potentially an organized group of saw palmetto berry pickers from Immokalee, Florida. The van was easy to spot. It was a U-Haul van. We had the tag and we searched for a short period of time and located that van up at a hotel in the city of Stuart,” the sheriff explained.
“These guys are smart. They know what they’re doing. They get dropped off early in the morning. They hide in the bushes all day long and they get picked up at dusk for the most part. So they’re slick and they know what’s on the line if they get arrested,” the sheriff told the media, according to WPEC-TV.
“That transfer process was halfway completed when we interrupted their transfer process and took 11 people into custody. This is something we’ve been dealing with for several years now,” said Budensiek, noting that they calculated the theft at about 6,000 pounds of berries.
The berries, which are sought after by the nutrition and health supplement industry and used medicinal purposes, can sell for between $1.35 to $4.00 per pound.
“I’ve talked to several ranchers that have flown drones. They pay for their game cameras, they patrol the properties themselves, and they still get ripped off every year. And they’re extremely frustrated with what’s taking place,” the sheriff added.
After being arrested, some of the alleged theft crew were served with ICE detainers. One minor was released to the custody of a relative.
All the suspects were charged with grand theft. Eight were slapped with the ICE detainers, and several may have harsher charges filed later due to their criminal histories.
Budensiek also revealed that thieves like these are becoming increasingly violent when confronted because they know that they are more likely to be deported now.
“Now these encounters, because there’s so much on the line for these suspects getting arrested, getting deported, they’ve turned into violent encounters, they’re not going easily anymore,” he said. “So other sheriff’s offices have been in knocked down, drag out fights and foot chases with individuals like this.”
Finally, the sheriff scolded the industries who purchase these berries for knowingly buying stolen crops.
“The fact that they’re stealing them and then selling them is a black market business. But it’s not a black market holistic business. It’s a legitimate market that they’re using to sell their stolen goods,” Budensiek explained.
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