Fruit “Rustlers” Alarm Florida Citrus Growers

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30480, 30 June 1964, Page 19

Fruit “Rustlers” Alarm Florida Citrus Growers

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter)

MIAMI (Florida). The fruit “rustlers” of Florida are expected to get away with oranges and grapefruit worth 2 million dollars this year., Citrus growers throughout the state, alarmed at the number of thefts and the skill of the rustlers, have set up a Central Intelligence Bureau in an attempt to save their crops.

Last year's freezing temperatures in this normally sunny state killed 14 million of the state’s 37 million orange trees, resulting in a small crop and high prices. Ninety pound boxes of oranges which used to sell for a dollar now sell for up to five dollars. The rustlers have been using many ingenious methods to steal oranges and sell them, the Central Intelligenvce Bureau reports. Some drive up to the groves at night in lorries or cars and pick as many oranges as they can. Others fish by day on lakes near the groves, then at night tie up, fill up their boats and sail away with their loot.

Citrus industry spokesmen report that last year the thieves got away with about 500,000 dollars’ worth of oranges;, but the rate of arrests this year and the thefts involved are on a much greater scale. The rustlers sell the oranges to wholesalers or to roadside food-stands after forging bills of sale. Catching fruit rustlers is a difficult task for the bureau. Unless they are caught in the act, the thieves will usually escape conviction because of lack of evidence. Once sold,

oranges are virtually impossible to trace. Many grove-owners are unaware that their crops are being robbed, industry officials say. "They don’t check their property that closely,” one official said, “and I don’t imagine an insurance company would pay you if you couldn’t prove the fruit was stolen.”

However, the drive to catch the rustlers is going ahead with the help of 64 assistant sheriffs, two each from 32 Florida counties, and . with lie detectors and laboratory equipment.