David P
Silver Member
My wife and I are wrestling with our next course of action in the following scenario and I figured I would throw it out there for all of you and ask for some feedback as I often read great posts on this forum. Here's the situation:
We closed on a lovely piece of property last fall and have started a small blueberry operation. (We have about 350 bushes now with plans to expand to 5-7 acres in the fall). Recently my wife was returning to our barn with a couple of customers and was approached by a couple of women who had been watching them from a distance for about 15 minutes as they were picking. One of the ladies was friendly, the other was a bit more gruff.
The initial conversation began with an inquiry of what my wife was doing there. It continued and included topics of blueberry prices (ours are evidently too high as Costco is cheaper), why we are doing this (college funds for our daughters), if they could sample our berries ("not THESE berries as these ladies just picked them... reply: Well, they haven't paid for them yet so they're not theirs" and how to know when we are there (we do not live on the property). My wife gave her one of our business cards which indicate that picking is done by appointment only.
My wife left this conversation with a pretty good opinion of one of the women (and later took her a free sample of the berries) and a very sour opinion of the other. She felt that she was rude and arrogant with a balsy, in-your-face personality.
The question about how to know when we are there raised my wife's antenna and since I needed evidence of deer for an out-of-season kill permit for the DNR anyway, I proceeded to set up a trail camera at the only entrance to the area of the property containing the blueberries. Within a week of the conversation I had video footage showing one of these ladies entering the blueberry section with an empty bucket (unfortunately, I did NOT have any footage of her leaving).
I spoke to the State Police about the issue and they indicated that since there was no evidence of her leaving w/the berries they were unable to do anything. I immediately followed up this meeting by placing a No Trespassing sign at the entrance to the blueberry acreage. I also purchased another trail camera and mounted it about 15 feet up in a tree.
I should also mention that the blueberries are surrounded by an electric fence (about 3 ft high) which has been doing a nice job of keeping the deer out (that's another topic). Anyway, within a week of putting this camera up I had evidence of this woman again entering the blueberry acreage, this time with her husband. The pictures show them trying to figure out a way inside the fence, crawling under it, picking berries and leaving with their stolen goods.
I believe this is the third time she has taken berries but have no proof of the first time as the camera was not up. Total value of the stolen fruit would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-25lbs of berries. Our You-Pick price is $1.90/lb and We-Pick is $3.50/lb.
I know the names and address of this couple, who incidently live in a very nice home ($250-300k). I am wondering how to proceed.
My first thought was to distribute a flyer to all of the locals with several pictures of them on it and requesting information leading to their successful prosecution. I believe the publicity would not only embarrass them but also serve as a deterent to others bent on doing the same.
I could also approach them after distributing the flyer asking them to either pay for the berries that were stolen (law provides for 3x actual value of goods stolen) or I would take this to the police.
I could also go to the police directly.
A combination of these options has also been discussed.
We are new property owners and have never dealt with situations such as this. Any thoughts and recommendations, especially from those who have faced similar circumstances, are very welcome.
We closed on a lovely piece of property last fall and have started a small blueberry operation. (We have about 350 bushes now with plans to expand to 5-7 acres in the fall). Recently my wife was returning to our barn with a couple of customers and was approached by a couple of women who had been watching them from a distance for about 15 minutes as they were picking. One of the ladies was friendly, the other was a bit more gruff.
The initial conversation began with an inquiry of what my wife was doing there. It continued and included topics of blueberry prices (ours are evidently too high as Costco is cheaper), why we are doing this (college funds for our daughters), if they could sample our berries ("not THESE berries as these ladies just picked them... reply: Well, they haven't paid for them yet so they're not theirs" and how to know when we are there (we do not live on the property). My wife gave her one of our business cards which indicate that picking is done by appointment only.
My wife left this conversation with a pretty good opinion of one of the women (and later took her a free sample of the berries) and a very sour opinion of the other. She felt that she was rude and arrogant with a balsy, in-your-face personality.
The question about how to know when we are there raised my wife's antenna and since I needed evidence of deer for an out-of-season kill permit for the DNR anyway, I proceeded to set up a trail camera at the only entrance to the area of the property containing the blueberries. Within a week of the conversation I had video footage showing one of these ladies entering the blueberry section with an empty bucket (unfortunately, I did NOT have any footage of her leaving).
I spoke to the State Police about the issue and they indicated that since there was no evidence of her leaving w/the berries they were unable to do anything. I immediately followed up this meeting by placing a No Trespassing sign at the entrance to the blueberry acreage. I also purchased another trail camera and mounted it about 15 feet up in a tree.
I should also mention that the blueberries are surrounded by an electric fence (about 3 ft high) which has been doing a nice job of keeping the deer out (that's another topic). Anyway, within a week of putting this camera up I had evidence of this woman again entering the blueberry acreage, this time with her husband. The pictures show them trying to figure out a way inside the fence, crawling under it, picking berries and leaving with their stolen goods.
I believe this is the third time she has taken berries but have no proof of the first time as the camera was not up. Total value of the stolen fruit would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-25lbs of berries. Our You-Pick price is $1.90/lb and We-Pick is $3.50/lb.
I know the names and address of this couple, who incidently live in a very nice home ($250-300k). I am wondering how to proceed.
My first thought was to distribute a flyer to all of the locals with several pictures of them on it and requesting information leading to their successful prosecution. I believe the publicity would not only embarrass them but also serve as a deterent to others bent on doing the same.
I could also approach them after distributing the flyer asking them to either pay for the berries that were stolen (law provides for 3x actual value of goods stolen) or I would take this to the police.
I could also go to the police directly.
A combination of these options has also been discussed.
We are new property owners and have never dealt with situations such as this. Any thoughts and recommendations, especially from those who have faced similar circumstances, are very welcome.
