Nipomo ranch witnesses avocado theft worth at least $3,000 

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• PHOTO COURTESY OF SLO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
• STOLEN DIVIDENDS SLO County Sheriff’s Office deputies retrieved at least five large sacks of avocados stolen by Baltazar Garcia and Wilson Carrero of Santa Maria from a rural Nipomo ranch.

A rural Nipomo ranch’s bounty made it the target of an unusual form of grand theft.

On July 11, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office deputies retrieved 500 pounds of avocados stolen from the ranch by two Santa Maria men. The avocados are valued between $3,000 to $5,000. Grand theft occurs when someone steals property or services worth more than $950.

“The property owner contacted the Sheriff’s Office and reported a theft in progress,” Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Tony Cipolla said. “We have received numerous calls in the past from this ranch.”

Cipolla told New Times that the Sheriff’s Office will not be disclosing the name of the ranch for security reasons. A photograph produced by the deputies shows that the culprits Baltazar Garcia, 40, and Wilson Carrero, 38, managed to stuff at least five large sacks with stolen avocados. 

Both men were booked into county jail in the early hours of July 12, with Carrero facing six charges related to grand theft of “fruit/fowl/etc.,” the possession of drug paraphernalia, and the possession of a controlled substance. Garcia faces two charges of grand theft.

“Agriculture crimes include not only thefts of produce, fruit, nuts, and livestock but also includes equipment theft (generators, fuel, tools, etc),” Cipolla said. “Equipment theft is the most common kind of ag theft.” 

He added that agricultural thefts have remained fairly consistent in SLO County over the years. 

Take it from Nipomo resident Jonathan Joe Gentzel.

“I work at Tractor Supply in Nipomo, and on Fourth of July someone managed to steal all of our avocado trees and even more! Ended up taking two pallets worth of plants,” he told New Times via Facebook.

Fellow Nipomo resident Lupe Esquivel noted the frequency and variety of agricultural crimes.

“Nipomo and ag [Arroyo Grande] has so many ag crimes from trucks getting broke into, windshields smashed in, to produce being stolen,” Esquivel said via Facebook.