CALIF. COPS PATROL GROWING CROPS

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) Ventura County Sheriff's Detectives Mike Horne and
Eric Nelson often find themselves crouched deep in the area's orchards at
night, hoping to catch their criminals red-handed.

The two are known as "avocado cops" at their station house. Their mission:
to catch rustlers snatching hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fruit
from trees.

"We take it seriously. We're dedicated to it. When a guy comes up to us and
says, 'I just lost half of my income,' that's serious," said Horne,
one-half of the sheriff's Agricultural Crimes Unit.

The coastal county, 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is rich in
agriculture. In addition to avocados, citrus, row crops and sod are also
grown.

In 1997, growers lost an estimated $609,000 to thieves stealing various
kinds of crops, farm and irrigation equipment and chemicals. Horne and
Nelson brought that down to $195,000 last year, the first year the team was
on the job.

The December cold snap contributed to a low avocado crop, and the higher
prices will be a great motivator for thieves, Horne said. The avocado
season has just begun.

"If you're a restaurant owner that use a lot of guacamole, you can save
lots of money buying stolen fruit no questions asked," Horne said.

Tracking down perpetrators is difficult.

"There are never any witnesses because it all happens in such remote
areas," Horne said. "And I've yet been able to get a fingerprint off an
avocado."

Nelson has a degree in agricultural business and Horne was a nine-year
narcotics detective. As many as 75 percent of the thefts are motivated by
drug use, Horne said.

"I can tell you, it's not Mom coming by who wants some avocados to make
guacamole dip for dinner," Horne said. "The biggest part of it is people
doing this to supply their addiction."

The detectives follow footprints and tire tracks and talk to any witnesses
they can find. They are also experimenting with ways to use high-tech
equipment to catch the crooks among the crops.

"I've even called the FBI to find out how I can put a tracking device in an
avocado," Horne said.

The drug users usually sell their purloined fruit to local markets and
restaurants, but in some cases the user swaps avocados or stolen farm
equipment directly for drugs, Sheriff Bob Brooks said.

"This is a completely different kind of crime than people think," Brooks
said. "We are finding more and more ties to either organized crime rings or
narcotics crimes."

Horne and Nelson spent a few nights in December hiding in a Santa Paula
avocado orchard. The thief never came.

Then, weeks later, a grower reported seeing a man and woman pushing a
shopping cart brimming with avocados, and the avocado cops jumped on the call.

"As it turns out, they were both homeless and trying to support their
heroin addiction. They sold the avocados to pay for drugs," Horne said.

The woman, convicted on two counts of grand theft and one count of petty
theft, was sentenced to 240 days in jail. Her boyfriend got 16 months in
prison on the same charges, the stiffer sentence due in large part to his
criminal record.