MEDIA RELEASE
Big Island police are investigating the theft of coffee cherries from trees in the Kaʻū District.
One or more persons entered a property off an old cane haul road above PÄhala sometime between 5:30 p.m. December 9 and 7:30 a.m. December 11. They stripped off between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds of coffee cherries, causing damage to the trees. Estimated damages were between $3,300 and $6,600.
Police ask that anyone with information on this case call the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311.
Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000. Crime Stoppers is a volunteer program run by ordinary citizens who want to keep their community safe. Crime Stoppers doesn’t record calls or subscribe to caller ID. All Crime Stoppers information is kept confidential.
This was bound to happen! The 5 or 6 buyers of Kona coffee along the roadside are not required to ask for TMKs of the origin of cherry anymore. Our sole Dept. of AG inspector for coffee made that non-sensical decision.
Coffee theft is already rampant in Kona again for that reason plus the per pound price for cherry is high at $1,50-$1,60. Bags are being stolen from the fields or off trucks.
Tip for the cops: Go to the few buying processors and ask them. Ka’u coffee doesn’t have the coffee borer yet, but also few buyers of cherry. So logically the thieves will try to sell it as 100% Kona. These are pristine cherries, no CBB damage, 20 to 40 bags from a new, nervous seller with a medium size truck. The buyer/processor WILL remember because they examine the coffee and pay full price only for undamaged cherries. And certainly asked the thieves to bring more of those beans! The bags will have had a lot of green beans and leaves, because the pickers were in a rush.
Of course there are a couple of shady processors who may cover for the thieves. Everybody knows them, because they never pay the farmers on time.
Along with all of that, there is a shortage of green coffee on the wholesale market. Growers are having to buy back beans from the distributors at a higher rate.
I wonder if these thieves stole the cherries from the farms that placed the cupping competition?