Bad Apple Strikes Again - Hits Homes in Hazel Dell

Only in the Pacific Northwest would there be an all out search for a man terrorizing neighborhoods with apples.

The Clark County Sheriff's Office has posted pictures of a man who threw apples on to the roofs of several homes in the Hazel Dell area just north of Vancouver. Along with the apples, the man left a somewhat nonsensical note.

While this may be a brief crime blotter item in most places, in the Pacific Northwest, it gets a little more attention because it turns out the person may be a serial apple thrower who has struck several cities in the area.

"The last couple of years, local law enforcement have received the occasional complaint from homeowners finding apples tossed on their roof, landing in their rain gutters," the sheriff's office posted on Facebook below pictures of the man's image captured by a home security system.

"Sometimes a nonsensical note is left behind as well."

Here's the note he left in Hazel Dell:

To The Good Citizens of Callisto,

I crossed the Rubicon River.

Today I did five houses. My backpack had fifteen apples in it, three apples per house. I pull up on my bike, take my backpack off, get the apples out, put the backpack back on, walk up a little closer and throw them high in the air over the house. The second and third apples are still in the air when the first one hits. Within seconds I am mounted up and gone.

Roofs are not created equally so the sound effects vary. It can be nothing, to a muted thump, to louder thumps to almost a crashing sound. I can remember one house. The owner must have had mason jars stacked up under the eaves; the apples came down on them like bowling bowls. I've broken a few windows but that happens rarely. If there are overhanging tree limbs or wires, I try to avoid hazards like that.

"Apple-ing" five houses takes about seven minutes. For a while I was doing eleven houses, that was down in the Richmond neighborhood. As it turns out eleven is too many as one night a police car showed up. The way he came was the way I went as he didn't see me and I was surprised to see I was being followed by a Portland Fire SUV with four bicycles attached to the back. Now I heard that Portland Police were stepping up bicycle patrols in the wake of nuisance crimes. I took a right and a left, another right and a left and dropped down to Ladd's Addition. So I started out at the Bagdad Theater and ended up in those nice gardens by the roundabout and there I lay down. I felt good being guarded by flowers.

It should be noted that the City of Portland might be the best place on earth for a hooligan riding a bicycle with a backpack filled with apples. There are bicyclists everywhere, even in the early morning hours. The neighborhoods are like corn fields, easy to get lost in.

The letters - and apples - are reminiscent of a rash of 'attacks" in Portland in January 2014.

The Portland Mercury printed a letter that had been left - along with apples - at several homes.

That letter claimed a political motive.

"We have been throwing apples on rooftops of supporters of Jeff Merkley since November 10th," the letter said. "Sine some people have windows up where the roof is, we have broken a few of them; but please understand that this is happening by accident. We thought about apologizing for doing this but in the spirit of Merkley and Obama "if you like your window you can keep you keep your window" - we are not apologizing."

That article referenced a similar rash of letters left in Portland in September 2013.

KPTV, at the time, reported that letters signed by "Artemis of the wildland" were targeting Portland residents on food stamps.

"Dear Reader of This Note,

There are twenty seven people in this neighborhood who vote and receive food stamps. The names of these people are being posted where they can be seen by taxpayers and the neighborhood can decide who is truly in need of food.

(signed) Artemis of the wildland"

Are they the same person? Different people? Take a look at the picture.

If you know this person’s identity, please call Deputy Steve Fox (360) 397-2211 X5483 or e-mail Steve.Fox@Clark.Wa.Gov

Photos courtesy Clark County Sheriff's Office