A Lakeshore Drive man, hit twice by thieves stealing apples from trees on his property, is hoping a cash reward will provide information to solve the mystery.
Italo Servello reckons about 450 apples were taken from two trees in his front and back yard and is determined to catch the culprits.
"I have two thousand dollars cash for information leading to an arrest," he told BayToday. "If they are doing it to me I know they are doing it to others. I've been talking to other people around here and things have been taken from their places, not apples, but other things, and I feel, let's put a stop to it. Someone will talk eventually with a two thousand dollar reward. That reward stands even if it's two or three years down the road.
"Police were here and they thought $2,000 is generous and a good idea."
Thieves struck his front yard tree first, then two nights later came back and stripped his back yard tree. He says in 25 years this has never happened before.
Servello isn't just miffed about the theft, but how the trees were damaged by the use of saws and shears to cut off the branches, potentially killing his trees.
"The first time I was upset because of the cutting of the trees. Losing the apples didn't really bug me as much. You want apples, that's fine, but when I noticed all the branches cut, that's what upset me the most, when you could have shaken the tree and they would have fallen. Shake the tree and take the apples, don't ruin the tree and kill it. Fifty cuts is a lot on any tree."
It was about two weeks ago when Servello came out of his house one morning and spied apples laying on the ground.
"I thought it was the deer doing that," he recalled. "The next day I noticed all the branches on the ground and all the cuttings in the tree and I called police."
When they arrived they canvassed the neighbourhood.
"One neighbour has eight cameras but he says none of them were on all this time over the past two weeks."
That has prompted Servello to install his own array of night vision cameras with solar security lights all around his house.
Another neighbour blamed deer, but some of the apples were 20 feet high and branches are cleanly cut.
Servello is convinced it's someone from his neighbourhood.
"It has to be one of the neighbours. I don't see a stranger popping by doing that because they don't know if I have cameras already. Only a neighbour would know that, someone who was going by the house every single day with a dog or something of that nature, and specifically knows I have the trees looking from the road. Only they would know this.
"There's hunters all over the place," he adds, suggesting his apples may be used as bait.
If you have information you can email him using [email protected]
"I'm giving cash. Two thousand cash."
