PLACIDA, Florida ( WBBH ) — The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office arrested three people for picking palmetto berries without a permit in Placida.

Around 7 p.m. on Saturday, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call reporting a suspicious vehicle parked in bushes near Brig Circle East in Placida. Deputies responding to the scene discovered three individuals named Maria Ines Sanchez, Amilcar Mejia Sanchez, and Lady Martinez-Espinosa, identified as a mother, her son, and his girlfriend, illegally harvesting saw palmetto berries.

In Florida, it is illegal to harvest saw palmetto berries without both a permit and written permission from the landowner, even on one’s own land.

Deputies said the trio had three large black trash bags filled with berries in their vehicle. Palmetto

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