LA PORTE COUNTY — 50,000 apples are believed to have been stolen from a local orchard.

The LaPorte County owner says more than an acre of trees are missing their apples. He just opened the orchard on Labor Day.

Williams Orchard has been in La Porte County for decades, but it just came under new ownership this past summer.

Jon Drummond tells us he and his wife are still excited about their new venture, but obviously, thousands of apples being stolen is a disappointing setback.

“Floored,” said Drummond. “Completely floored.”

Drummond says he was shocked to discover that amount of apples missing from his orchard.

“To be able to see an entire block of trees, nearly cleanly picked, when just days earlier there were thousands and thousands of apples on them, we just couldn’t even fathom it,” said Drummond.

The apples disappeared sometime last week. He says they noticed it on Saturday when they went out to check their fruit.

“We installed a new fence a couple weeks ago,” said Drummond. “Unfortunately, we hadn’t installed all the locks on the fence at that time. So it likely was easier than we’d like to admit, you just drive up, open the gate, and come onto the property.”

He says the thieves targeted trees in a valley at the back of the orchard.

Since there aren’t any apples on the ground, they believe the thieves came through, shook the trees and let the apples fall on a tarp to collect into bins.

“Very often, people that would mass pick in that type of area would want to use those for making applesauce or making cider, which is pretty common these days,” said Drummond.

The sheriff’s department says whoever took the apples had to be able to transport them.

“We’re looking for a pick-up truck or some kind of trailer that could pull this large of product,” said Captain Derek Allen, La Porte County Sheriff’s Office.

Drummond says they now have locks and cameras on their property, but as he looks at his rows of trees

“I just still can’t believe it. There’s so many apples gone.”

He’s thankful that the amount stolen was only five percent of his crop.

“This is just a bump in our journey and there’s a lot of apples still left out there,” said Drummond.

How much money would the apples have sold for? Drummond says around $27,000 dollars.

If you’re a fan of apple picking there is some good news — at 135 acres, Drummond says there are still plenty of apples to pick.

They plan to remain open until Oct. 27.

Source: WSBT