Three Years Later, Yolo County Ordinance Has Farmers Saying Nuts To Thieves
WEST SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — After years of escalating thefts from orchards, Yolo County's plans to cut down on crooks who are stealing nuts could be helping.
Randy Timothy has been in the nut growing business in Woodland for 14 years and knows the value of these natural gems. They may be small, but these nuts are still the tasty target of thieves.
"The biggest fear is harvest time when we have big bulk containers because that's when we are most prone to theft," he said. "I've heard of nuts stolen right out of processor's yards. It happens and I think it will continue to happen as long as the prices are good for thieves."
Since 2014, Yolo County adopted a nut theft ordinance to help crack down on nut thefts by requiring proof of ownership from the seller. Randy says his business is a smaller operation, while he's never had it happen to him, but thinks the ordinance can only be helpful.
He says thieves will have a much tougher time trying to sell stolen nuts.
"To basically steal a large quantity and sell them is going to be pretty tough unless you can verify where they came from," he said.