Four Los Angeles County residents were arrested and booked into jail on conspiracy charges after they were pulled over with hundreds of pounds of stolen avocados in their vehicle.
The arrests were made possible thanks to a county-wide neighborhood watch program called Farm Watch, a partnership with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and hundreds of local farms, ranches and nurseries.
On Sunday around 2:40 p.m., sheriff’s deputies from the FIllmore station responded to a ranch on the 3000 block of Telegraph Road that had reported a major avocado theft.
The victim was able to provide detailed information about the suspect vehicle, which was located by patrol officers as it attempted to flee the area.
A traffic stop was conducted which led to the identification of four suspects: David Melchor, 18; Jesus Pozos, 23; Valentin Pozos, 33; and Epifania Pozos, 37. All four are residents of Norwalk in L.A. County, officials said.
Inside the vehicle, deputies discovered “hundreds of pounds of stolen avocados,” which were returned to the rancher.
The four suspects are described as an agricultural theft group that may have targeted other businesses in the Santa Clarita Valley, officials said.
All four were booked into the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility to await felony charges for agricultural theft and conspiracy, as well as misdemeanor trespassing charges.
They are due in court on June 11 and are being held on $10,000 bail each, jail records show.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office encourages members of the agriculture community to join the Farm Watch program to receive electronic alerts and information about latest crime trends.