Avocado Theft Tipsters Get $10,000

More than $10,000 in rewards were given this year to people who reported avocado thefts, including some in Fillmore, Santa Paula, Oxnard and Camarillo. The rewards, ranging from $67 to $1,000, were given by the California Avocado Commission, spokesman Howard Seelye said.

Nineteen instances of avocado thefts were reported in Ventura, San Diego and Riverside counties at the close of the crop year in October, Seelye said.

The rewards are part of a $30,000 program by the commission to stem avocado thefts estimated at between 5% and 10% of California’s annual crop. Total value of the stolen avocados is estimated at $10 million to $20 million.

Avocado prices are higher due to a smaller crop caused by bad weather over the past two years. “An individual who wants to steal 100 pounds of avocados can sell them for $100, more than a farm worker can make hoeing weeds for two days,” Seelye said. “All they need to do is find a grove and fill up three or four plastic shopping bags.”

Last spring in Fillmore, three suspects accused of stealing avocados were sisters, ages 15, 13 and 11, who were visiting from the Los Angeles area. A family of farm workers saw the girls putting avocados in a van and reported them to the police.

“The three girls were put on probation,” Seelye said. “They couldn’t give a good reason for collecting 200 pounds of avocados for their own use.”

Although some of the avocado thieves were put under citizen’s arrest by those who saw the incidents, Seelye recommends that police be called instead. “We’re fortunate, so far, that someone only got a broken leg. But someone could be carrying a gun.”