Someone stole my Garden Ornaments (lawn, palm, Fruit Trees, solar)

[Anamandy]

I live in the West Glens Falls area and I can't believe that someone actually opened my gate and came on my property the other night to steal garden ornaments. I don't care so much that the ornaments are gone (though 2 had sentimental value because my now deceased sister had given them to me) but the fact that they violated my property and left my gate (which I close for a reason) wide open. I have dogs and if I didn't look out the window the other morning before I let them out I might have lost them. One of my dogs is a runner and would have taken off. Thanks to what this person did I was forced to put a padlock on my gate, which is a big inconvenience.

Anyone else have this happen to them?

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I've had my fruit trees and grape vines stripped.

Locally, people get their Christmas lawn ornaments stolen. I suspect that the lawn ornament thing is probably meth heads who will be able to sell those ornaments for enough for another hit.

[ferraris]

For a while I would find my solar lawn lamps knocked over or with the stake in place but the lamp 10 feet away. I chalked it up to maybe the mailman tripping over them. Then it happened more often and I thought well maybe it's just the kids from the school down the street being rowdy. Then one day someone outright removed the bulbs from two of them. That's not kicking or tripping, they had to actually sit there and unscrew the cap to remove the bulb. That really ruined my day because I had to go buy replacements, luckily the store still carried the type I had and they were only a couple dollars. At least this was in my front yard though, they could do it without even leaving the sidewalk. I'd feel way more violated in your case, where they actually had to go through a gate and actually be on your property.

[phonelady61]

I did once when i lived with a nasty dog and he got em . Yep he bit them and I heard em holler and i took my shotgun out and told them to hold it right then and there . I kept em at gun point until the sheriff got there thank god it was one of the deputys that knew me and my family . The kid went to juvinille detention and his parents had the nerve to come and ask me to drop the charges along with a hefty check I slammed the door in their face . get yourself a video camera which I now have even though I live in an apt I still use it . Yep keep your gate locked and get yourself a nasty dog if you dont have one .I never had anything stolen out of my yard after that hmm wonder why ? LOL .

[kinkytoes]

When I lived downtown, people ( by people, I mean a$$holes or drug addicts, I can't think of anyone else who would do this) would steal plants from me and any of my neighbors who did container gardening. We had no idea what they did with them.

[harry chickpea]

Game cam. If it happens once, it'll happen again until the perp gets caught. We had a rash of this from a meth head that lived locally. Now everyone in the area knows I have a number of cams - game cams, security cams and IP cams.

[Pitt Chick]

Sorry that happened to you, Anamandy.

[Blinx]

Yes, I had a statue stolen, and it had been a gift! Same thing -- they had to go through a gate to get it, in full view of all of the neighbors. It was a row house, and there was NO privacy in the back yard. The nerve!

[in_newengland]

So far I've never had anything stolen and I think it's terrible that anyone would do that.

Wait--a long time ago in a different house, I had rolled a huge boulder in the backyard down to a resting place so that I could built a sort of Japanese garden around it. One day the boulder was gone. I know who did it--two crazy neighborhood kids who were always in trouble--and it was just a stupid rock but still. A lot of it is the idea that someone actually came into your private yard at night while you were asleep and thought it would be funny (or profitable) to take something. Not a good feeling.

[Clark Park]

Early last spring, a little over a year ago, I put two rather large solid stone classical Greek-style urns flanking the front steps to my porch. The urns weighed at least 150 pounds apiece and had contained a small palm in each one. Last fall - overnight - they disappeared! I'm still angry about it!

I went to a local police community meeting a month later and I was told there are theives and drug addicts cruising up and down the streets late at night looking for stuff to steal off peoples lawns, gardens, and porches.