Open Letter to Rare Palm Collector Community

[Jurassic Garden]

This is an open letter to cycad, palm and other tropical plant lovers who care about the plants you grow.

Over the past 1½ months, there have been at least 3 major thefts from our nursery. I am sharing this information with you so you can be aware of plants that may have been or will be offered within the rare plant community:

• 
  
  
• Encephalartos horridus Steytlerville form (1)
  
• Encephalartos horridus Dwarf Form (2)
  
• Encephalartos arenarius (2)
  
• Encephalartos nubimontanus (4+)
  
• Encephalartos nubimontanus “Robustus” (5+)
  
• Encephalartos cupidus “Robustus” (4+)
  
• Encephalartos cupidus (2)
  
• Encephalartos arenarius x horridus (1)
  
• Encephalartos horridus cross (woodii) (1)
  
• Encephalartos lehmannii (5)
  
  

The above plants are the most prominent of the plants, growing in 15 gallon pots, stolen from our nursery by people who climbed over our back gate and loaded the plants up and over the gate, using one of our ladders. Whoever took these plants knows our nursery, our plants and their locations well, because most of the stolen plants were taken from “Held Plant” areas, and all are higher value specimens. A good number of these were being held for customers who had already purchased or placed deposits on these plants.

I ask that you please consider the following:

• 
  
  
• When growers like Loran Whitelock, Jeff Chemnick, Dick Johnson and Bert Greenberg first imported cycads 15-30 years ago, and brought them to the market, what might have been if their most valuable plants were stolen from their yards as soon as the plants were re-established enough to sell to collectors?
  
  
• Would customers have risked purchasing these valuable cycads if they knew that owning them would make the owners targets for thieves?
  
  
• Would other growers in the next generation of cycad lovers have been willing to take the chance to grow these slow and quirky plants?
  
  
• Would any of us have the plants we now enjoy if the first group of growers had lost many of their rarest plants to thieves?
  

In the past several weeks, the thieves have probably been trying to peddle the plants you see listed above, and at some point, one of us reading this letter may be offered one or more of these plants at a great price. I ask that if or when this happens, please consider what you want your role to be in the evolution of the rare plant world. Is that great price we're being offered for that plant worth it?

And if we support these thieves, whose fence will they jump over next? Whose garden will they visit uninvited to take what we've nurtured?

Whether you're a hobbyist, a collector, a simple home gardener or a nursery owner, I'm asking you to help ensure that plant theft does not become one of the pillars on which our community is based.

I ask that you take your place as a member of this community and ensure its future survival by simply keeping an eye out for these plants, and if you're offered them, do the right thing.

In our case, like other businesses that sell high value items (but they actually make money), we have now spent thousands of dollars (that could be paid for rent, supplies or employee salaries) on security cameras, trip-alarms, and motion sensors. In addition to regular police patrols, we have alerted all our nearby neighbors and have hired a patrol service. If this is what every rare plant nursery will need to do, our fellow nursery owners and we will all have fewer resources to nurture rare plants for our customers.

Please reply to me via private email if you have any thoughts you'd like to share on this situation, rather than posting a public reply, as I would hope that we can maintain a discussion about more positive aspects of growing beautiful plants.

If you have any information on these thefts, please call Officer Vazquez or Detective Feeney at the Foothill Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, who are handling this investigation, at 818-756-8861.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,

Maurice Levin

Jurassic Garden -- A&A Cycads

Email: maurice@cycads.com

Website: http://www.cycads.com/

11801 Stagg Street

North Hollywood, CA 91605

Phone: (818) 759-0600

Fax: (818) 301-0309

[BS Man about Palms]

Sorry to hear this news...

[Tyrone]

I hope you get these guys. I feel for you.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Z4Devil]

Dear Maurice -

first of all: my deepest sympathy to hear such terrible news! I will never understand what people pushes to steal things being not their property!

I think - from Germany - I can´t do anything really but I will watch Ebay US and DE, promised. I wish you success to catch them and receiving your babies back!

Verena

[palmcurry]

Not cool.

[MattyB]

Sickening

[PALM MOD]

I would like to add that several years ago a Botanical Garden in SoCal was hit and several rare cycads were taken. With increased pressure and exposure here and at other garden/plant sites on the web, along with networking through the trade, they were eventually abandoned along with a notification of where they could be found. So pass the word along any chance you get. This activity is becoming much too common.

[Dave-Vero]

There was a plausible security suggestion over at the Cycad Society.

A botanical garden in my part of the state had all-night security for its fall plant sale last year, but vendors' plants were stolen anyway.

[LJG]

I guess you must now treat a rare cycad nursery as a jeweler shop. You would not see diamond rings or earrings out in the open, and they are the same price as many of these cycads. Time to lock up the rare blues or add some extra security.

Here is another option to add to the security. Koi ponds have these motion detected sprinklers to chase away Blue Heron. Put a bunch of these around the nursery on timers. It will make things a little more interesting next time these sissies come back.

[MattyB]

Guard skunks

[yachtingone]

This is intresting!!!

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cycad/message/38299

Randy

[The Silent Seed]

Randy, that just takes me to the yahoo homepage / sign in page. Got a direct link? Thanks, Jude

[Ice Blue]

Hi Maurice,

I am very sorry for what happened to you, and I really hope you get some leads for whoever is responsible for this.

Could you please indicate the approximate caudex size of the plants that were stolen? There is a number in parenthesis next to each stolen cycad. I can't tell if this number is caudex size or the number of cycads that were stolen. It looks like all of the cycads that were stolen were growing in 15 gallon containers. If that is the case I am assuming that they all have a caudex of at least 3+ inches. I think more clarification would help everyone on Palmtalk to be on the lookout for exactly what was stolen. Additionally it will also prevent honest nurseries, who happen to be selling some of the cycads listed above, from coming under unnecessary suspicion.

Thank you,

Edited August 1, 2011 by Guanabana13

[yachtingone]

The page posted came from yahoo's cycad forum.

Santory maybe you have to be a member to use the link I provided.

I hate theves!

Randy

Click on the document to enlarge

[The Silent Seed]

Thanks, Randy! That "note" is weird!

Once again, my condolences - I know it's really tough having these thefts happening - and it does seem to be happening more often now.

I wonder if this has been discussed before, but is microchipping cost-effective? I know they do it with pets, some of which are comparable to the price of the cycads.

With thousands of dollars at risk, I can only imagine a video surveillance system would go a long way - wish I could be of more help. I've seen some comparable plants on Ebay, but I think they are your own postings.

Best, Jude

[Jurassic Garden]

One Time Amnesty if You Bought One of Our Stolen Cycads

You Also Could Be a Victim--We Want to Help You Acquire Clear Title to Your Plant

As you may know, our nursery experienced a series of rare cycad thefts. Most of these were very rare species we had imported over the years.

The thief (sometimes using the alias name removed) and a number of plant sellers to whom he sold these plants at steep discounts, sold these plants to collectors over the last few years. If you bought a rare cycad at a price lower than the prices generally offered for these rare species, there is a real possibility you were sold a plant stolen from our nursery.

For example, one "palm and cycad nursery" bought these plants for nearly two years under the following dubious conditions:

• For cash
  
• At night
  
• At 25-30 cents on the dollar
  
• From a seller they hadn’t previously known
  
• Off a rented U-Haul truck
  
• Without any of the Federally Required Origin information
  

Sellers of endangered species like cycads are required to maintain documentation of provenance, and on imported plants, all CITES permit data. A reputable supplier should be able to provide you this information when you purchase a plant. If the supplier is unable or unwilling to provide this, there is a reasonable chance the plant was stolen or not legally imported.

The legal process to address these thefts is now underway. LAPD undertook an investigation, made an arrest, and our nursery is beginning legal action against those who have profited from dealing in stolen property. California law (Penal Code Section 496) allows anyone injured by the sale of knowingly stolen property (like our nursery) to bring a civil action against the seller, or a person who receives stolen property, for up to three times the amount of actual damages, costs of suit, and reasonable attorney's fees.

If you have purchased one of the following species from a supplier in Southern California over the past 2 years, I would ask that you please contact us so we can help you verify the source of your plant(s). We want to work with you, and we don’t want you to be at risk, in the event that you may have purchased a stolen plant.

These are the plant species that you should document if you bought them in the last 2 years, particularly if they were sold via a source in Southern California:

• Encephalartos cupidus
  
• Encephalartos nubimontanus
  
• Encephalartos horridus
  
• Encephalartos horridus Dwarf Form
  
• Encephalartos arenarius
  
• Encephalartos arenarius Blue Form
  
• Encephalartos arenarius Blue Leaf
  
• Encephalartos arenarius x horridus
  
• Encephalartos trispinosus
  
• Encephalartos munchii
  
• Encephalartos caffer
  
• Encephalartos longifolius
  
• Encephalartos longifolius “Blue Form”
  
• Encephalartos friderici guilielmi
  
• Other rare Encephalartos sp.
  

We are offering an “amnesty period” for anyone who believes they have, or who knows of the existence of a plant that may have been stolen from our nursery. We will be happy to work something out with you that will be fair, so that you have clear title to your plant without paying more than fair value in total for it, and so that the sale of stolen property is not a total loss to you or to us. We will also provide you with documentation that passes clear legal title to you for the plant. We want this to work for you.

Back in July, we asked people “What do we want our roles to be in the rare plant world, and is the low discount price we may be offered for a rare plant of questionable origin is worth it?" I ask again, if we support thieves, through action or inaction, whose fence will they jump over next? Whose garden will they visit uninvited to take what we've nurtured? While the Jurassic Garden nursery has now become a veritable “sound and light” surveillance show for uninvited nighttime visitors, is this what every cycad collector will need to do in the future?

Whether you're a hobbyist, a collector, simply a home gardener or a nursery owner, you’re a member of a special community that appreciates rare plants and nurtures them.

Please help ensure that plant theft does not become one of the pillars on which our community is based, and help ensure its future survival by working with us to resolve this situation and put it behind all of us.

Contact us privately at info@cycads.com if you have any information, questions or feedback.

Sincerely,

Maurice Levin

Jurassic Garden -- A&A Cycads

Email: maurice@cycads.com

Website: http://www.cycads.com/

11801 Stagg Street

North Hollywood, CA 91605

Phone: (818) 759-0600

Fax: (818) 301-0309

[PALM MOD]

Mod Note:

This topic was temporarily removed for a couple of weeks while we evaluated a complaint about allowing the preceding post. After careful consideration, and after receiving no response after several attempts at obtaining additional information from the initial complainant, we have decided to allow it.

PalmTalk takes the issue of the theft of valuable plants seriously, and will continue to provide a platform for its exposure when it occurs. We believe that it may help to provide some deterrent, and help in any recovery - thus benefiting all plant collectors.

But, as with anything and everything posted on PalmTalk, we only provide the venue, and can not guarantee or assure that what is posted by any PalmTalk member (in any topic) is always accurate and/or truthful. In addition, in topics of this type, no names of individuals of businesses will be allowed or inferred when contained within any accusations, unless proven in a court of law.

[Dave-Vero]

Maurice Levin's amnesty offer has been thoughtfully discussed at the Cycad Society's Yahoo group. I haven't seen accusations have been made against any individuals (I think I read every post), and no one has claimed to be expert on how California law treats buying stolen goods. There could be civil penalties as well as criminal.

I'd like to thank him for starting the conversation, and our Mod for reinstating his post here.