Biden's economy left Americans desperate for cash.
Rising costs are still strangling working families everywhere.
And one Florida man loaded up his Mercedes for Christmas and gave cops the ultimate guacamole story.
Deputies caught red-handed avocado heist at 2:30 AM
Miami-Dade County deputies patrolling the Redland agricultural area at 2:30 in the morning got the surprise of their lives when they spotted a black Mercedes parked suspiciously near a commercial avocado grove.
That's when they saw 29-year-old Edel Perez dressed in all black, picking avocados and stuffing them into bags like some kind of midnight farmer.¹
Perez wasn't just sampling a few pieces of fruit.
Deputies found multiple black bags crammed with freshly picked avocados, plus hundreds more loose avocados filling up the trunk of his Mercedes.²
The total haul came to roughly 400 pounds worth about $800.
Perez gained access to the Grove Services Incorporated property by cutting through the fence line.
When deputies confronted him, Perez admitted he knew the avocados didn't belong to him.
But his explanation had deputies scratching their heads.
Perez told officers he was unemployed with two kids and planned to sell the avocados on the street to buy Christmas presents for his children.³
So here's a guy driving a Mercedes-Benz who decided the best way to fund Christmas was stealing 400 pounds of avocados at 2:30 in the morning.
That's some creative holiday shopping right there.
Florida farmers are getting hammered from every direction
Florida's agriculture industry pulls in over $100 billion a year.⁴
That makes farms a massive target for thieves who see easy money sitting in fields waiting to be grabbed.
The state runs 23 agricultural inspection stations around the clock trying to stop the bleeding.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson has been busy this year busting theft operations left and right.
His Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement shut down a payment card fraud ring and recovered more than 30 stolen semi-trailers worth over $1.3 million in separate operations.⁵
But individual farmers? They're still getting hit constantly.
Thieves target everything from cattle to citrus to avocados, and the Miami area's Redland zone has been hammered.
Perez isn't even close to an isolated case.
Out in California's Ventura County, sheriff's deputies are fighting organized avocado theft rings that stage hundreds of pounds of fruit in orchards, then come back later to haul it away.⁶
These aren't desperate dads grabbing a few pieces of fruit to feed their kids.
These are organized operations treating farms like their personal grocery store.
Perez was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and charged with third-degree grand theft and trespassing on an agricultural site, both felonies under Florida law.
His bond was set at $5,000.
The Biden economy has created a climate where half of unemployed men have criminal records, making it nearly impossible for them to find legitimate work.⁷
That pushes more people toward desperate measures like raiding farms in the middle of the night.
But stealing 400 pounds of avocados while driving a Mercedes doesn't exactly scream "desperate father."
It screams "criminal who thought he found an easy score."
Florida farmers are getting hammered from every direction under Biden.
Hurricane damage cost them up to $975 million in production losses in 2024 alone.⁸
Now they're dealing with organized theft on top of natural disasters and inflation.
And when thieves get caught, they expect sympathy because they've got kids to feed.
Deputies returned the stolen avocados to the farm owner.
But that doesn't undo the damage to the fence, the time wasted dealing with theft, or the constant vigilance farmers now need just to protect their crops.
This is what happens when an economy collapses and criminals know they'll get slaps on the wrist.
Perez will probably be back on the street before the avocados he stole would have ripened.
¹ Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, "Arrest Report for Edel Perez," December 22, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Florida Sheriffs Association, "It's Not Just About Oranges: Agricultural Law Enforcement in Florida," June 18, 2024.
⁵ Ag Information Network, "Florida Ag Busts Crime Operation," 2024.
⁶ The Camarillo Acorn, "Theft ring bust yields hundreds of pounds of stolen avocados," June 21, 2024.
⁷ Shawn D. Bushway et al., "Barred from Employment: More Than Half of Unemployed Men in Their 30s Had a Criminal History of Arrest," Science Advances, Vol. 8, No. 7, 2022.
⁸ Florida Phoenix, "2024 agriculture production losses could near $1 billion," January 14, 2025.
