One Ohio farmer was a victim of a massive robbery after hundreds of his pumpkins, worth over $6,000, were stolen from him. According to WCMH, an unknown thief stole around 300 pumpkins from Terry Dunlap at Sam’s Pumpkin Patch in Pickerington.
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Thieves Steal 300 Pumpkins Worth Over $6k From Ohio Farmer
This robbery happened near the end of September, and Dunlap felt horrible over the loss. “I was sick,” said Dunlap. “Physically. I mean, just overwhelming.”
Dunlap had been growing pumpkins for the fall season in Fairfield County. He’d return weekly to the quiet field to treat the healthy pumpkins, but one day he arrived to find all but one pumpkin missing.
“Keep your eyes open,” Dunlap said. “Keep your ears open. Somebody knows who did it. Somebody knows.”
This crime mattered more to Dunlap than just a business loss. He took great personal pride in his squash collection. “We treated these special,” Dunlap explained.
“We wanted them to grow big, and they were about the size of bushel baskets with stems on them as long as your arm, and we were proud of those.”
The devastated farmer has since filed a police report with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office. Unfortunately, the authorities have no leads on who was responsible.
“I had a special place which is surrounded on three sides with brush and briers and pea vines where nobody can see in or see out,” Dunlap said. “However, it opened up to my neighbor to the east, and from his property, there was an access to 33.”
Since this incident, Dunlap has been securing the field that has now been emptied. To keep any more thieves out, he has installed a fence around the field. But he has since found out he hasn’t been the only pumpkin patch affected by a robbery.
“There’s a pumpkin place on 188, east of Circleville, called Puffy’s Pumpkin’s,” Dunlap explained. “He’s got a greenhouse there and last Monday, he filled up a big display out front. When he came back Tuesday morning, every pumpkin was gone.”
Still Searching For Suspects
Dunlap understands that pumpkins are a target for thieves around this time of year. “It’s the time of the season and it’s easy. It’s easy to get rid of the product. Boom. If you’ve got big pumpkins at a cheap price, people are going to suck them up if they’ve got money in their pocket. It’s easy prey, easy money.”
On Sam’s Pumpkin Patch’s Facebook page, it warned customers of the robbery and offered a reward for a tip that could help in the arrest of the suspects. It even shared a photo of the pumpkin left behind.
“If anyone knows who may have been driving around the Central Ohio area in the past week or so trying to sell a very large quantity of large stem pumpkins out of a trailer or truck, let us know,” it said.
“That theft from our fields cost us an incredible amount of income we worked hard to produce. Felony theft amount. Stolen straight out of a back field.”
Despite the huge loss, Dunlap has received a ton of support from the community. “Make a donation that you were going to send to me, but double it to a local charity, food bank, something else that doesn’t go to corporate but stays here,” said Dunlap. “You do that. That makes me happy.”