Accused serial shrubbery thief caught with $8,000 in stolen plants, California cops say

A series of nighttime thefts caught on video at a Newport Beach nursery led investigators to a man accused of being a serial shrubbery thief, California police reported.

Officers recovered $8,000 in plants stolen from Roger’s Gardens, Newport Beach police said in a flowery Nov. 29 news release. They arrested an Irvine man accused in the thefts.

Security videos at the nursery caught what appeared to be the same man stealing plants on four different nights over a period of months, police said.

“The suspect brazenly took prized bushes, carefully snatched exotic plants, and even made off with an entire bench, leaving the business in disarray,” police wrote. He also took pots and trees.

The accused thief used the purloined plants to make his backyard “a sanctuary of stolen greenery,” police said.

The man, who was not named in the news release, faces a charge of grand theft, police said.

“This was quite possibly the most beautiful press release ever written,” read one comment on X, formerly Twitter, about the release. Others speculated it was written by either an English major or ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence app.

Newport Beach is about 45 miles south of Los Angeles.

This story was originally published November 30, 2023 at 7:37 AM with the headline "Accused serial shrubbery thief caught with $8,000 in stolen plants, California cops say."