Man steals 400 lbs. of avocados to get Christmas presents for his kids: cops
A man clad in black quietly picking avocados in a Redland grove would normally be an innocuous event for a Miami-Dade deputy to stumble upon. However, it was nearly 2 a.m. Tuesday under a pitch-black sky in the same place the watchful deputy saw a cut fence a week prior.
The deputy soon discovered this was not the graveyard shift of a farmworker, but a would-be robber trying to make off with about 400 pounds of avocados, authorities say. The alleged robber pleaded that he turned to crime to get his two children Christmas presents.
Deputy J. Parker was driving around the Redland on his routine patrol when he saw a black Mercedes-Benz parked in a swale in front of an avocado grove near 217th Avenue and 320 Street, an arrest report read. The area consists primarily of farmland with few homes, so the unoccupied car stuck out to the deputy.
He began to investigate and saw Edel Perez, 29, of Homestead, in the grove picking avocados. The deputy turned on his emergency lights, stopping Perez.
Deputy Parker discovered inside the Mercedes-Benz, which is owned by Perez, were blue and black bags filled with freshly picked avocados. The trunk was packed with loose avocados, the report read.
Investigators tallied up the fruits; they estimated Perez picked about 400 pounds — worth $800.
Perez was charged with trespassing on an agricultural site and third-degree grand theft. As of Monday night, he remained in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Perez told deputies, according to the report, that he realized “he was taking something that did not belong to him. However, he has no employment and two kids and was planning to sell the avocados on the street to buy his children Christmas presents.”
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