Rowdy Freeman
Appearances
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
You have to know how to handle bees, you have to know how to move them, you have to have the right equipment. So it's almost always someone that has been involved in the beekeeping industry.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
It's very difficult for someone of the general public to identify a thief versus the legitimate hive owner.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
Beekeeping is very hard work. You do all that work and then someone comes in and steals them out from underneath of you and makes the money that you were planning on receiving. It's a big punch to the gut. Here's Steve again.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
Like the conferences and stuff that you attend where the beekeepers from all over the place are there. You just never know. When I'm talking about hive theft and stuff like that, I know a lot of the people in the room, but there are some people that I don't know. Because we don't know who is stealing these hives, you just never know.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
So they'd go in under darkness in those early morning hours, depending on how many hives they're planning on stealing.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
They go in with a 17-foot flatbed. They can load 96 hives with a forklift.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
It's a very difficult crime to prevent. If there's no physical evidence or there's no eyewitnesses or there's no photos on cameras of license plates or anything like that, or we don't receive any information from the general public, it's very difficult to investigate.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
The beekeeping community as a whole was very excited about it. The following year in 2018, you know, there were less than 100 hives reported stolen throughout the state. So that's pretty telling if it goes from 1,000 to 1,700 to less than 100 and that they had the right people.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
I just think it's a revolving door. You take one person out and another one steps in. It's just kind of how law enforcement and crime works.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
There's about 2.3 million honeybee hives needed for almond pollination in the state of California. There's only a little over 800,000 hives that are considered residents of California. So all those additional hives have to be trucked in from all the various states as far as Florida.
Big Time
Crime Stings | 6
Feeding them, making sure they're healthy, making sure that they're up to the hive strength required of the contracts.