4 Florida men could face charges for allegedly picking berries on federal land in Alabama
GULF SHORES, Ala. It was a bizarre bust Wednesday night, September 18, 2024 in Gulf Shores that had a lot of folks around town and even the police scratching their heads. Nearly 2,000 pounds of berries that police said were illegally plucked from palmetto plants on the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge were found in the back of a truck. It was thanks to an alert passerby who saw men walking out of the woods with sacks over their shoulders and called police, that they were able to make the stop.
It’s not the first time Gulf Shores Police have run into a situation like this. This bizarre story all began a week earlier when Gulf Shores pulled over a suspicious van. In police dash-cam video of the stop, once the van stops, all the doors open, including the rear hatch. People pile out and run, leaving sacks full of berries behind. The vehicle was towed and the bags full of palmetto berries with it.
Fast forward to Wednesday night. It was just before dark on Newberry Road when a tourist said they saw some men carrying similar sacks out of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. Concerned, they took a picture of one of the men and called police. Kayla Stull witnessed it and said it was very concerning.
“We were driving out and the guys were blocking the road, so we drove around them. We saw one guy hooking a bag over his shoulder,” Stull recalled. “It was a white bag and then, another guy like dove into the back of his truck, shut it really quick and then another guy got out and was wondering what we were doing.”
Police responded and stopped the truck on Fort Morgan Road. Inside they discovered 18 bags filled with palmetto berries which the police said the suspects admitted to taking off the refuge.
“They didn’t specifically say where they were headed to or who hired them, just that there was a market for these berries and one commented that he didn’t think it was illegal to harvest the berries in the state of Alabama, but it is illegal to harvest the berries on federal lands.” explained Detective Carl Wittstruck with Gulf Shores Police.
Federal Game and Fish authorities were contacted. Gulf Shores Police arrested the four men and charged them with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Detectives then went to work, trying to find out where they were from and how they ended up here.
“It’s our understanding that these berries can go anywhere from up to ten dollars per pound in Florida and there is a market for them and what they do with them, we don’t know but apparently there’s laws in Florida that prevents people from harvesting these berries without the permits or the licenses to do so,” Wittstruck said.
All four men are from south Florida and police said they intended to return there with their Alabama-picked palmetto berries. While very uncommon, some officers with Gulf Shores Police recall this happening before, several years back. The draw is the abundance this time of year and the perceived medicinal qualities of the berries.
If any criminal charges come from the harvesting of the palmetto berries, it would have to come from the feds. FOX10 News has reached out to the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge for comment but we’ve yet to hear back.
2024 WALA
