South Minneapolis thieves target yards, landscaping

Expensive jewelry and electronics are easily protected by being locked up inside your home, but how do you keep thieves from stealing from your yard?

That's what several south Minneapolis residents are trying to figure out after flowers, bushes, trellises and statues worth thousands of dollars were taken from at least a dozen boulevards, the Star Tribune reports.

For some, this is the second year in a row being hit by the green-thumbed thieves. Businesses in the area are also being targeted.

A suspect captured on a surveillance camera last year was shown pilfering plants and a wrought-iron trellis from France 44 Wine & Spirits.

"We've actually been visited by the plant thieves for years," Rick Anderson, owner of France 44, tells KARE 11. "For the longest time, nobody really took it seriously. I mean, c'mon, plant thieves? But it costs a lot of money."

The video, which isn't clear enough to read a license plate number, shows a female smoking a cigarette with a little white dog, according to the newspaper. The car shown was a dark-colored, two-door Honda.

Still, no suspects have been identified.

KARE shows clips of the surveillance video in their story.