Man steals $25,000 in tangerines from citrus packing plant

LAKE HAMILTON, Fla. - Polk County Sheriff's detectives are searching for $25,000 worth of tangerines and the man they claim stole the fruit from a Lake Hamilton packing plant.

"You can't believe it," said Dundee Citrus Growers Association CEO Steven Callaham. "Our sales person calls and says, 'We've had a whole load of fruit stolen.' That just doesn't happen."

According to Callaham, a truck driver came to pick up a load of 31,000 pounds of tangerines on Saturday, December 17. He was supposed to deliver the load to a grocery store in Wyoming.

"Two days later, the customer calls and says, what happened to the fruit?" Callaham recounted.

A call to the truck brokerage company that hired the driver eventually led to the discovery that he'd used false paperwork. Now, no one knows where he or the tangerines are.

 "We take pride in making sure our customers get exactly what they ordered," Callaham said. "If the fruit is stolen, we don't look good."

The truck is described as a tan freight-liner with brown lines. The suspect is a white male with brown hair and a mustache.

Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-226-TIPS.