Have You Seen the Flower Thief?

This is a guest post by Cleveland Park neighbor, Marcia Stein:

Several recent Listserv postings alerted us about a neighborhood flower thief and provided a description of a possible suspect - a short, white male, about 60 years old with wavy salt and pepper hair. Someone, perhaps the same individual, made his/her annual visit to the Newark Street Community Garden in the past two days, stealing some 50 peony stems from several garden plots, stripping bushes clean of all stems with flowers and or buds. It is difficult to understand how this person goes unnoticed, walking thru the gardens located between the 2nd District Police Station and the Newark Street dog park, a children's playground, and across the street from the McLean Gardens condos, where people are out and about at all hours, especially early in the morning walking their dogs -- which is when we suspect the thief appears.

One McLean Gardens resident has seen a man fitting the given description leaving the community garden, arms loaded with flowers. The previous Listserv postings sited the same man in various neighborhood locations including the Glover Park trail behind McLean Gardens, walking with armloads of unwrapped flowers in the early morning hours, and even cutting hydrangeas from people's home gardens, then quickly walking away. 

Let's protect our properties and catch this thief. If you see someone fitting this description who looks suspicious e.g. walking with an armload of unwrapped flowers, especially in the early morning hours in or near the Community Garden, please call 911 and take a picture of the suspect if you can. 

If you have any information, please e-mail newarkstcommunitygarden@gmail.com.