Eugene Cordero, you are mistaken that this fruit is being picked (stolen) by the poor to feed their families. It is being picked by the greedy to resell at 100% profit in unlicensed food stands. This act of greed and selfishness must be reported to the police to stop it from spreading to other bigger and more brazen crimes.

You shouldn't have to hang a sign asking people not to steal from you. Next they'll be telling women to hang signs on their purses saying "please don't snatch this purse".

..."the fruit thieves may not be aware that what they are doing is not OK...." So tell me who doesn't know it's wrong to STEAL? to strip hundreds of dollars' worth of fruit from someone's trees and sell it; to break into a yard and take something that ISN'T YOURS? Last I heard, stealing was still illegal, and so was trespassing. Or has this become a land of lawlessness?

I don't think this is poor people stealing food to feed their families. If they get away with this, they may indeed start going into people's homes to take things (if they aren't doing that already.) Some fools seem to think they're entitled to just take whatever they want, even other people's belongings. Maybe they don't believe in private property (but I bet if you took something of theirs they would object!) Maybe they think the laws were made to be broken (or just shouldn't apply to them), and are probably laughing at their victims' frustrated attempts to get help from the police.

Maybe the residents should set up security cameras (some are cheap) - they should keep reporting these thefts to the police, but if they can't prosecute these perps in criminal court, at least sue the thieves in small claims court for the resale value of the fruit and the cost of any landscaping repairs.

I live in View st.
I remember one day this man wanted to grab oranges from our tree.
He had some paper that supposedly gave him permission; it was for the community service center or something.

I have yet to see fruit thieves that this article talks about.
My neighbors did report some black guy hiding behind a car near my house...but i don't think that is related.
Unless he came at night to steal fruit or something?

I would appreciate it if these scavengers asked to pick the fruit... instead of just grabbing it as if it is theirs.
Always have your camera ready.

I have had fruit stolen from my fenced back yard on two occasions. My gardner insists that his people did not take it. I pay to have my fruit trees sprayed and pruned, and I don't see any difference between someone entering my yard and stealing, and someone entering my house and stealing. I am looking for a solution to protect my property from this trespassing and stealing.

Around the time this article ran, our lemon trees stripped to height one could pick from ground...also a neighbor down the street lost the fruit on her trees. Funny, looking for signs to buy that say "Do not Pick the Fruit," Googled and got this article about US!