Thanks to a community tip, investigators found thousands of dollars worth of stolen plants at a San Jose home.
On Tuesday, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office shared photos of the plants.
ABC7 News spoke with Missy Gable, the director of the UC Master Gardener Program.
“It’s a serious crime, this is an important industry and it takes away from the producers who have put months and sometimes years into the development of these plants,” Gable said.
The sheriff’s office said over the course of a year, three suspects stole plants from Ace Hardware in Saratoga, along with Lowe’s and Home Depot stores across Santa Clara County. They would then sell the stolen plants at flea markets.
“Sometimes they’re not paid for that product until it’s sold to a customer that’s called pay by scan and so when plants are taken retail centers that use that type of model, our growers are never compensated for those plants,” Gable said.
The Sheriff’s Office said they found $11,000 dollars’ worth of stolen botanicals.
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The greenery appears to be a mix of landscape plants, small Christmas trees, indoor plants and citrus trees.
“Really that kind of unregulated plant movement, that is one of the top ways we can spread invasive species, whether that’s insects, weeds, pathogens, that’s how they can spread around California,” Gable said.
Clay Powell owns Leaf and Vine Urban Plant Shop in Campbell, a plant shop he just expanded from Santa Cruz.
Powell said just two weeks ago, a woman tried stealing from the shop.
“She stuffed a plant up under her shirt that she had cut,” Powell said.
He said when it comes to purchasing plants for a good price, just be aware.
“You are looking for a deal but if something seems really off it might be off,” Powell said.
ABC7 News reached out to some of the businesses targeted by the suspects in this case but did not hear back.
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