Santa Maria woman tried to sell $20,000 in stolen broccoli seeds, sheriff says
BY GABBY FERREIRA
gferreira@thetribunenews.com NOVEMBER 16, 2017 04:34 PM , UPDATED NOVEMBER 16, 2017 04:35 PM
A 21-year-old Santa Maria woman has been charged with felony possession of stolen property after authorities found her using Facebook to try to sell more than $20,000 worth of broccoli seeds stolen from her former employer, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday.
Sheriff’s deputies received a report of stolen broccoli seeds from Growers Transplanting Inc., a wholesale plant nursery, in Nipomo in early October, the Sheriff’s Office said.
During the investigation, an employee told authorities that Blanca Paz Trejo, an ex-employee at the company, was selling similar broccoli seeds using a Facebook account under a different name.
On Oct. 4, deputies contacted Trejo through social media to arrange a purchase of her broccoli seeds, the Sheriff’s Office said. When they arrived at the location, deputies inspected the seeds and noticed that the lot and batch numbers were the same as the stolen seeds.
