3 arrested for picking palmetto berries without permit

By Madison Monroe Adams

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    PLACIDA, Florida (WBBH) — The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office arrested three people for picking palmetto berries without a permit in Placida.

Around 7 p.m. on Saturday, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call reporting a suspicious vehicle parked in bushes near Brig Circle East in Placida. Deputies responding to the scene discovered three individuals named Maria Ines Sanchez, Amilcar Mejia Sanchez, and Lady Martinez-Espinosa, identified as a mother, her son, and his girlfriend, illegally harvesting saw palmetto berries.

In Florida, it is illegal to harvest saw palmetto berries without both a permit and written permission from the landowner, even on one’s own land.

Deputies said the trio had three large black trash bags filled with berries in their vehicle. Palmetto berries are often sold by the pound. In a good season, the berries can fetch up to $5 per pound, though local buyers are currently paying about $1.

Deputies confirmed that the three individuals had neither permits nor landowner permission and were also unable to prove their legal residency status in the U.S. They were arrested and charged with the illegal harvesting of saw palmetto berries — a third-degree felony in Florida. All three were released on bond. No ICE hold has been placed.

Dr. John Griffis, an ecology expert at Florida Gulf Coast University, explained the historical and medicinal value of the plant.

“Palmetto berries have been used for a couple of hundred years. The Indians used that as a regular food source, but they also had a number of medicines that they claimed or, you know, diseases or problems that they could treat. The concept has been around for a long time, that palmetto berries could treat problems with the prostate, including swelling. It’s a native plant, and wildlife conservation is serious about it,” Griffis said.

“There’s a number of animals and birds that rely on them heavily for food when they’re in season. Much more than us. And so it impacts that. But then the secondary problem was a lot of damage to the plants and trails and pathways through public land that was just conservation land, the conservationists didn’t want people, you know, going out there doing it. And I guess it’s not really fair. It’s kind of like stealing somebody else’s fruit trees, you know, or going to take your fruit and sell it, and you don’t get anything. So, yeah, the plant is only propagated mostly by seed. So that’s the other problem.”

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