Waltham Farm Tomato Thief: Do You Recognize This Woman?

WALTHAM, MA — The Waltham Police Department are joining the Waltham Community Fields Farm's public plea for help finding a woman who stole some 100 pounds of tomatoes from the Farm last weekend, and who has apparently done this at least two other times before on the same holiday weekend.

"A saucy thief has blatantly stolen bushels of beautiful tomatoes from the Waltham Community Fields Farm," wrote police on their Instagram account.

On Labor Day weekend in 2015, farm workers reported a similar theft, prompting them to install video cameras. After catching her on camera in 2016, but not quite being able to make out the license plate, staff at Waltham Fields decided this year to post warning signage, alerting anyone that the area was being recorded, in the hope it would deter her.

"Sensing the mystery woman might return, they had planned to bring the tomatoes indoors on Friday night for the weekend, but she came early on Friday morning," wrote Waltham Fields Farm on Patch Sept. 1.

Video footage shows the woman consolidating tomatoes into a few of the bins and storing them into the back of her Honda CRV before driving off.

Waltham Fields employees called police to report the thief and share the video footage, and took to Patch to post about the incident as well.

Police said they came out to the farm and spoke to the executive director, who told them the story - that approximately 5 crates of tomatoes valued at $500.00 were stolen around 6 a.m. - the third year in a row that a large amount of tomatoes have been stolen from the farm on Labor Day weekend, they suspect from the same individual.

Police and the farmers describe the suspect as a white female in her 60's with blond hair, wearing a gray Boston t-shirt, and black leggings, she was driving a 2012-2015 brown Honda CRV.

"This woman's actions are dicey at best, and we'd be stewin' if someone stole the fruits (or is it vegetables?) of our labors!" wrote police on Instagram.

If you have any info, please call Det. Bill MacEwen at 781-314-3557.

Waltham Fields Community Farm is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting local agriculture and food access through sustainable farming practices and education programs.

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Photo courtesy Waltham Police