3 Held in Attempted Theft of Avocados
Two men and a woman sneaked into a Somis-area orchard early Sunday and, under cover of darkness, bagged about 500 pounds of avocados before being caught, say sheriff’s deputies.
The three were arrested on suspicion of stealing avocados.
Ventura County sheriff’s deputies say the arrests mark the third time in as many weeks that authorities have caught people in the act of stealing fruit from Somis-area orchards. Deputy Al Calderon said investigators did not yet know whether the attempted thefts were connected.
About 1:15 a.m. Sunday, deputies received a report of someone attempting to steal avocados from an orchard on Price Road, north of California 118. They searched the orchard and, using a trained dog, immediately found one suspect. Two others were arrested as they tried to flee the orchard.
Several hours later, deputies arrested a fourth suspect, who had come to pick up the other three and the bagged fruit.
Armando Diaz, 23, of Lester; Maria Lopez, 44, of Fontana; Humberto Lopez, 46, of Fontana and Sal Lorenzana, 19, of Bell Gardens remained at the Ventura County Jail on Sunday.
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