LOUISVILLE, Ky. — One man spoke out Thursday after plant pirates snatched his flowers from their roots.
"I came out in the morning and one of the plants were completely gone," Joshua Wilkes said.
Wilkes said all that was left was a trail of dirt.
He immediately told his neighbors on Aug. 4 on the Nextdoor App. A few minutes later, someone told him they spotted his flowers at a nearby home.
"They were like, 'are these your plants?' Wilkes said. "That's when I was like, 'actually they are!"
He said he called police and then rushed over to get his plants back, but then a man stepped outside.
"I was like 'yea man, you stole my plants! Like there's my plants!' He was like 'I didn't steal from anybody. I've never stolen from anybody!"
Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) arrived soon after, but no arrests were made. Wilkes said officers told him he needed better proof.
"Proof that they were for sure my plants even though I have pictures of them and they match the plants I still had" he said. "Where is the accountability?"
And he's not only one with that question. Several residents said they caught the same man taking their plants on surveillance video. They call him the "plant thief."
Wilkes claims the man and his boyfriend steal from other resident's yards and then resell what they find.
He hopes the men are held accountable soon before this situation grows out of hand.
"It's all a gateway you know. If someone is stealing minor things, and they get more comfortable with it and they get away with it, then all of a sudden it's bigger things," Wilkes said. "Then you're getting your car jacked, and then your houses are getting broken into, or your family is getting put in danger. So where does it stop?"
WHAS 11 reached out to LMPD. Detectives said they spoke with a possible person of interest, but their investigation is still active and ongoing.
No charges have been filed in this case.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the anonymous Crime Tip Hotline at 502-574-LMPD (5673) or use the online Crime Tip portal at LMPD Crime Tip Portal.
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