The Brief
- Polk County deputies arrested a Lake Wales man after finding a truck full of stolen palmetto berries hidden at Warner University.
- Florida law classifies harvesting the endangered berries without a state permit as a third-degree felony punishable by five years in prison.
- Illegal harvesting deprives local wildlife of food and feeds a lucrative international market that ships the berries overseas for medical processing.
LAKE WALES, Fla. – Deputies arrested Rodney Michael after security officers found his pickup truck loaded with illegally harvested saw palmetto berries hidden on Warner University property.
Warner University Trespassing Incident
What we know:
Security officers and Polk County deputies said they discovered an empty red pickup truck hidden in a wooded area on Warner University property. The vehicle was packed with saw palmetto berries, which are endangered and illegal to harvest without a state permit.
Michael walked up to investigators and claimed the vehicle belonged to his mother before admitting he drove it onto the campus. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd stated that Michael was taken to jail on charges of trespassing and illegal possession of the berries.
“Our buddy here walks up and says, ‘That’s my mama’s truck.’ You see, he’s from Lake Wales in Polk County and good ol’ boys call their mother mama,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd explained. “We said, ‘It may be your mama’s truck. But did your mama bring it here?’ ‘No, I drove it here.’ So, you’re trespassing, and you’re stealing palmetto berries from the university and in possession of them without a permit. That causes you to go to jail.”…