Case of the missing pomegranates

Glendale resident Minas Soukasians would have just given away the pomegranates that someone cut through his backyard fence to steal, but they never asked.

Soukasians on Monday noticed the tall tree, which once sparkled with ruby-colored fruit, was almost barren.

“I can’t believe it,” he said.

Upon further inspection of the tree, Soukasians said he noticed a gaping hole in the fence. Someone had cut the chain-link to steal the more than 20 pomegranates.

“I have been waiting the whole year for this fruit,” he said.

Soukasians immediately reported the break-in and theft to Glendale police.

In his 15 years of living at his South Street home, he said he has never been burglarized.

He had originally planted the pomegranate tree outside his property, but people often took the fruit without asking, so he moved it behind the fence.

But this week, the effort was fruitless.

“If they wanted it, I would have gave it to them,” he said.