Posted on 06/03/2026 6:28:31 AM PDT by simpson96
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (FOX26) — A woman was arrested after an investigation near an orchard revealed stolen fruit and drug paraphernalia on Tuesday, deputies say.
A Fresno County Deputy was on patrol in the area between Kingsburg and Parlier, noticed a car pulling out of a nectarine orchard near the intersection of Zediker and Rose avenues around 2 a.m.
The deputy stopped the car and contacted the driver, 40-year-old Zulema Garcia Cruz.
Garcia Cruz was arrested for having outstanding warrants for drug possession and petty theft.
During a further search of the orchard, the deputy found a pickup truck with nobody inside.
The bed of the truck was full of nectarines that had been picked off nearby trees.
The deputy also checked the trunk of Garcia Cruz’s car and found a crate of nectarines.
Deputies said she was also in possession of a meth pipe.
Garcia Cruz was booked into the Fresno County Jail on her warrants and new charges related to grand theft of crops and possession of drug paraphernalia.
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She's probably responsible for that caper caper too.
In “Bleak House”, Harold Skimpole went to and died in a work house after he didn’t pay for nectarines (he had it coming).
In “Sanford and Son”, Fred demanded nectarines as he was being coddled before he was a witness to the mob-shooting of Johnny Popcorn.
Nectarines are funny.
Well, if we have to have meth-addicted thieves in this country, at least this one is productive and picks fruit when she is high.
Not only that, but, yes, she had warrants, but at least hers were outstanding.
She was outstanding in her field.....................
Somebody wasn’t keeping an eye on their beloved illegal alien “neighbor.”
Nocturnal nectarine nabber nabbed.
A really good nectarine is hard to beat. I don’t see them very often.
Quite literally.
Mealy, soft, tasteless, common but when they are good they are very good. My wife never has developed the knack of gently squeezing them for quality so it is rolling the dice for the ones she buys. He never has learned how to back out of the garage properly either but at least she hasn’t hit anything, yet.
Grand theft of crops isn’t something that was on my bingo card.
You’re right. A good one is hard to find.
Yep. Fruit thefts are becoming common in California - avocados in particular b/c they are expensive.
Walnut trees are hacked apart b/c the burls at the base of the tree are used in high-end furniture and for high-end cars.
My neighbor had his front yard orange tree stripped overnight of fruit - he cut it down the next day he was so angry.
Trespassers and thieves should be shot on sight.
I haven’t bought grocery store stone fruit in ages. It’s all rock-hard!
Our neighbor across the street has a mature avocado tree in her backyard. She gets FOUR HUNDRED each season!
I have a lot of fruit trees, citrus, etc., have had no luck with avocado trees, lost two and that was it for me...neighbors get them on their trees off and on every year.
I made sure my fruit trees were planted in the back of the property behind high fences with locked gates.
Anyone who goes back there w/o my permission will be greeted by a welcoming committee - two very protective dogs who do not like strangers.
I used to have two peach trees in the front yard and an apricot tree. The backyard had a Golden Delicious apple, another apple, a pear tree, and a lemon tree. I always enjoyed watching the trees blossom, the fruit get pollinated, the buds swelling, the fruit growing and ripening. Then the squirrels would get the fruit just before it was fully ripe, take one bite, and leave the fruit on top of a fence post. A couple of years, the entire apricot crop would be gone one morning. Somebody swiped it all!
We’ve got a great fruit stand just down the road from us that’s been there 70 years or more. I finally figured out that, as much as I enjoyed growing my own fruit, the labor required was huge and not worth my time. Trees are all gone and I shop at the fruit stand.
They aren’t mealy if grown nearby.
I have a rule never to buy peaches or nectarines from California, because they pick them way too early in order to ship them all the way to the East Coast, which makes them mealy. instead of ripe.
But the same fruit from anywhere this side of the Rockies is always good.
“The deputy stopped the car and contacted the driver, 40-year-old Zulema Garcia Cruz.” Zulema must really like nectarines.
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