California Farmers Ban Together to Fight Nut Rustlers
19th January 2014
This harvest season in the Central Valley, thieves cut through a fence and hauled off $400,000 in walnuts. Another $100,000 in almonds was stolen by a driver with a fake license. And $100,000 in pistachios was taken by a big rig driver who left a farm without filling out any paperwork.
Investigators suspect low-level organized crime may have a hand in cases, while some pilfered nuts are ending up in Los Angeles for resale at farmers markets or disappear into the black market.
“Disappeared into the black market” is code for “well, we don’t know, so we’ll make up something that sounds ominous”.
Of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with the presence in California of vast quantities of sometimes-legal migrants from a country Down There that is legendary for its lawlessness and crime cartels. Perish the thought!
January 19th, 2014 at 22:21
No one in Kalifornia would dare patrol his property for fear the State would accuse him of abuse (or worse).
A company (in TX) I once worked for owned a golf course for employees. (Aww, the good old days..) A guy snuck in with a wet suit and a 4 wheeler and stole thousands of golf balls from the ponds. As he was leaving, a game warden watching for poachers noticed him and “encouraged” him to stop by placing a .44 magnum in his ear and cocking the hammer. He later managed to evade jail time, but never returned to that county. The confiscated golf balls were sold at 50 cents each to raise money for charity.
Thieves can be encouraged to stop or to leave, or can become an example to encourage other thieves. It does take some courage to do the encouraging.