Three Seymour residents were arrested during the weekend by police investigating a report of people stealing soybean plants from a farm field in Hamilton Township.

The three, Amy Rivera, 35, Mark Sanchez, 30, and Cynthia Gonzalez, 25, face charges of theft and criminal trespassing after police found them with trash bags containing soybean plants, according to a news release from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

The plants reportedly were taken from a field in the 4000 block of East County Road 800N.

Police said the investigation was sparked Friday evening after a woman told dispatchers she saw people picking what she thought was corn from a farmer’s field.

The caller told police three people in a black car had gone into a farm field, put several plants in three trash bags and loaded them into the car before leaving on County Road 800N, police reported.

Reserve Deputy Scott Davis, who was in the area at the time of the call, stopped a car matching the description of the vehicle on County Road 700E, just south of County Road 800N.

During the stop, Davis learned that Rivera, who was the driver, did not have a valid driver’s license. Police also discovered trash bags with the soybean plants, leading to the arrest of the trio.

One of them told police the plants were taken from the field to be used in soup, Davis said. The property owner of the field where the soybeans had been taken, however, had not given permission for them to be there, he said.

The three were arrested on charges of theft and criminal trespassing, both Class A misdemeanors. Rivera also was arrested on a charge of operating without ever receiving a driver’s license, a Class C misdemeanor.

All three were released from the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown over the weekend after posting $705 bonds.