Oct 21, 2009 8:22 pm US/Pacific
Mountain View Residents Fed Up With Fruit Thieves
MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS 5) ―
Persimmons are nearing perfection, but in Mountain View residents are keeping an extra close eye on their ripening fruit. They are hoping these last weeks of the growing season don't turn into a neighborhood crime watch.
"We will be watching like hawks," resident Mattie Scott said. She and Charlie Weigle say their prized persimmon tree is in danger of being robbed, picked clean by roving bands of thieves who don't just target low hanging fruit.
"Somebody comes in and climes the tree and there are other people in the car waiting for them," Scott said.
"I had an instance where some people came, brought their own ladder in broad daylight and were just collecting off the trees," Weigle said.
"There are several people," Scott added. "(Neighbors) got their license plate last week, so apparently the police are alerted to it.
It's been happening for months: Marauders stuffing bags and boxes full of fruit stolen from front yard trees in the neighborhoods around Bush and Church streets. They steal apricots, peaches, citrus and especially persimmons according to neighbors.
"They come in and literally strip the trees, they have ladders or they climb the trees," said resident Gretchen McPhail. "One piece of fruit, no big deal. Stripping the trees, that's a big deal."
CBS 5 spoke by phone to a persimmon grower near San Diego who said fruit is prized in many cultures and carries a hefty price tag.
"They're charging $1.89 per pieces in the stores and we're charging $1.39 a pound out here on the farm," said Lecia Fentiman of Fentiman Farms.
Mountain View Police declined CBS 5's request for an interview and downplayed the incidents, calling it petty theft that would not be prosecuted.
Neighbors have confronted the thieves and chased them away in some cases. But now, neighbors are concerned that incidents could escalate or lead to other crimes.
"Why wouldn't they come into are houses next," McPhail said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
CBS 5 CrimeWatch
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments