Three Okeechobee men are being held without bond in the Indian River County Jail after deputies say they drove to Vero Beach before sunrise Thursday to strip saw palmetto berries from state land along Interstate 95, triggering a search that ended with a drone, a K9 unit, and one suspect hiding in a thick canopy of saw palmetto trees.
According to CBS12, a corporal spotted a red vehicle parked in the woods along the state-owned median of I-95 near mile marker 159 in Vero Beach on Thursday. Officers found one of the men, identified as Williams, in the woods holding a white bag and plant pruners, and he was seen cutting a stalk of berries from a saw palmetto tree. Williams admitted he had been harvesting the berries and told officers two other men were with him.
A Fellsmere Police Department officer located a second suspect, identified as Gabbard, just south of Williams's position. Gabbard admitted that he and the others had driven from Okeechobee before sunrise in his sister's car specifically to harvest berries, the outlet's report notes. That left law enforcement searching for a third man, identified as Ray, who authorities say was actually a suspect named Howard.
Drone Grounded, K9 Sent In
Deputies deployed a drone to search for the third suspect, but technical issues forced it down, per the same account. Law enforcement then issued loud verbal warnings before Florida Highway Patrol brought in a K9 unit, which tracked the man to a thick canopy of saw palmetto trees.
The suspect, Howard, refused commands to come out with his hands up and was ultimately apprehended by the K9. He later claimed he had been napping and hadn't heard officers yelling — a claim deputies considered highly unlikely given the sharp, serrated limbs and rough ground where he was found, the report states.
All three men admitted they did not have permission to be on state land and lacked the required harvesting permits from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Officers recovered multiple large bags filled with freshly cut saw palmetto berries, weighing approximately 350 pounds total, along with additional pruning shears, empty bags, headlamps, and flashlights inside and around the vehicle. All three suspects were booked into the Indian River County Jail and are being held without bond.
A Felony With Teeth
Florida added saw palmetto to its Commercially Exploited Plant Index back in July 2018, making it illegal to harvest, transport, or sell the berries from public or private land without a free Native Plant Harvesting Permit, according to the Florida Senate. Permit applications must be submitted at least 14 days before harvest and require written authorization from the property owner.
Florida Statute 581.189 makes harvesting, buying, transporting, or processing saw palmetto berries without permission a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison and court-ordered restitution equal to the fair market value of the berries. The 2024 revisions broadened felony liability beyond pickers to include unpermitted buyers and transporters as well.
Why Berries Are Worth the Risk
The financial incentive is real: raw saw palmetto berries typically fetch between $1.60 and $3.00 per pound at buying stations across Central and South Florida, driven by demand from the herbal supplement industry for prostate and urinary tract health products, according to UF/IFAS Extension research. That pricing means the 350 pounds recovered near I-95 could have represented several hundred dollars on the local market.
Saw palmetto berries are a food source for more than 200 native wildlife species in Florida, including white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, gopher tortoises, and the Florida black bear. The berries ripen between August and October.
Part of a Bigger Crackdown
Similar busts have played out across the state this season. In August, Polk County Sheriff's deputies arrested a Lake Wales man on university property after campus security spotted his pickup truck hidden in the woods and loaded with illegally harvested berries, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Before the I-95 arrests, Hoodline reported on a Palm Beach County bust on September 5, 2026, in which a suspect was caught at the Hypoluxo Scrub Natural Area with 500 pounds of berries.
