Ex agriculture employee arrested for selling stolen seeds
On Oct. 3, deputies with the Sheriff’s Office Rural Crime Unit responded to a report of stolen broccoli seeds from Growers Transplanting Inc. in Nipomo. During their investigation, an employee received notification that 21-year-old Blanca Paz Trejo, an ex-employee of the company, was selling the same type of broccoli seed under an alias Facebook account. On Oct. 4, deputies contacted the ex-employee through social media to arrange a purchase of her posted broccoli seeds. Upon arrival at the arranged location, the Rural Crime Deputies inspected the seeds and noticed that the lot and batch numbers were a match to the stolen seeds. Rural Crime Deputies subsequently searched Trejo’s residence in Santa Maria and located the original boxes in which the broccoli seeds had been stored.
The estimated value of the broccoli seeds is $22,750. The seeds were returned to Growers Transplanting Inc. and felony charges of possession of stolen property, were filed with the District Attorney’s Office against Trejo.
