Big Heist! 150 Pound Watermelon Worth $1,500 Stolen From Md. Farm
BEL AIR, Md. (WJZ) -- An unusual theft has people talking in Harford County. Someone stole a 150 pound watermelon from the garden of a family known for growing prize-winning produce.
Monique Griego has more.
The farmer that grows the watermelons has won several awards for his produce and says this one was on track to be the largest one he'd ever grown.
For Bradley Northcote, raising giant watermelons is a passion.
"It takes a lot of time and energy to take care of these," he said.
Last Friday, he was doing his daily rounds, checking on their health and growth when he stumbled across a cut vine and realized one melon was missing.
"I was pretty dumbfounded to see it gone. I mean, who's going to steal a piece of fruit? It's kind of ridiculous," Northcote said.
But the missing fruit was the biggest watermelon Northcote had ever grown, weighing in at 150 pounds.
"It's just sad because we'd decided not to enter it into the Maryland State Fair this year because we wanted to see how large it could get," he said.
He's still trying to figure out how the thieves got away with it.
"It takes normally two people to load them into a car just 10 yards away so to pick them up and carry them off the property," he said.
Northcote doesn't understand how anyone even knew the watermelon was there because the patch is hidden from the roadway.
"Nobody's going to see this one behind all these weeds here. It doesn't make sense. How does someone know to get this specific watermelon?" he said.
Northcote filed a police report. The Sheriff's Office says they have no leads and no suspects.
Northcote says all he can do is hope whoever took it enjoyed it.
The Northcote family donate produce to needy families and homeless shelters in the area.
The world record for the biggest watermelon is around 290 pounds.
