This browser does not support the Video element.
Palmetto berry theft
Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies are cracking down on berry bandits. Illegally picking or selling saw palmetto berries could land you in state prison. FOX 13's Carla Bayron reports.
POLK COUNTY, Fla. - Deputies in Polk County are cracking down on illegal saw palmetto berry harvesters who target private property to profit off high pharmaceutical demand.
Berry bandits crackdown
What we know:
Fifty-five-year-old Rodney Michael of Lake Wales was arrested last week after deputies caught him trespassing on private property to harvest protected saw palmetto berries.
Courtesy: Polk County Sheriff's Office
Deputies seized a truck bed full of berries from him, noting that harvesting without a state permit or landowner permission is a felony in Florida.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office Agricultural Crimes Unit tracks these cases to keep ranchers and grove owners from becoming easy targets.
High pharmaceutical berry demand
The backstory:
Saw palmetto berries bring high prices because they are used extensively in homeopathic treatments and the pharmaceutical industry.
The high market value drives thieves to illegally pick the ripe crop from private land during Summer and early Fall.
Sheriff's office defends property
What they're saying:
"So the question is—why does he look kind of angry here [in his mugshot?] If you're harvesting palmetto berries in 95-degree heat and 95 percent humidity, and then we come take a whole truckload from you—woo, you'd be hot, too," Sheriff Grady Judd posted in a Facebook video.
Spokesperson Carrie Horstman emphasized that stealing berries is equivalent to stealing fruit from an orange grove.
"It's no different than if you own an orange grove and someone goes onto your orange grove and picks your oranges. You sell those to feed your family. Those are your oranges—you've paid money to harvest and to grow them, and you're making a profit off that. So anything you grow on your property, nobody has the right to profit off that," Horstman added.
Unknown details in investigation
What we don't know:
Authorities have not disclosed the total financial value of the stolen berries recovered during recent arrests.
It remains unclear how many additional suspects or buyer rings the Agricultural Crimes Unit is currently investigating.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from FOX 13 reporter Carla Bayron, who reported on the scene in Polk County, as well as Polk County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Carrie Horstman and Sheriff Grady Judd.