Santa Maria woman tried to sell $20,000 in stolen broccoli seeds, sheriff says

A 21-year-old Santa Maria woman has been charged with felony possession of stolen property after authorities found her using Facebook to try to sell more than $20,000 worth of broccoli seeds stolen from her former employer, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said on Thursday.

Sheriff’s deputies received a report of stolen broccoli seeds from Growers Transplanting Inc., a wholesale plant nursery, in Nipomo in early October, the Sheriff’s Office said.

During the investigation, an employee told authorities that Blanca Paz Trejo, an ex-employee at the company, was selling similar broccoli seeds using a Facebook account under a different name.

On Oct. 4, deputies contacted Trejo through social media to arrange a purchase of her broccoli seeds, the Sheriff’s Office said. When they arrived at the location, deputies inspected the seeds and noticed that the lot and batch numbers were the same as the stolen seeds.

Officials then searched Trejo’s Santa Maria home and found the original boxes where the seeds had been stored, the agency said. Authorities estimate the value of the stolen seeds to be about $22,750, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities returned the seeds to Growers Transplanting Inc., according to the Sheriff’s Office. Trejo was charged with felony possession of stolen property by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Santa Maria woman tried to sell $20,000 in stolen broccoli seeds, sheriff says."