Hot broccoli: Thief swipes $50,000 worth

Trailer disappears in Chicago suburb, but produce no black-market darling

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updated 11:52 a.m. ET Jan. 16, 2007

VILLA PARK, Ill. - Someone got way more than the recommended daily serving of vegetables when a refrigerated trailer loaded with $50,000 worth of broccoli was stolen.

The 48-foot trailer disappeared from its rented parking space in the Chicago suburb of Villa Park sometime between Sunday and Tuesday morning, police said.

Detective Ed Zorich said the thief was probably after the trailer, not the vegetables.

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“What is someone going to do with that amount of produce?” Zorich said. “On the black market, I can’t imagine that’s something that’s worth money to anybody.”

Police entered the trailer into a stolen-vehicle database, but had no immediate leads.

“We have homicides happening in town,” Zorich said. “We’re not really looking for a truck of broccoli right now.”