The last thing Laura Sandoval Farmer expected when she arrived home at 1:30 in the morning was to find that her two potted plants and antique basket were missing from their spot on the front porch.
“I just can’t believe it!” she says. “Who would take your potted plants?”
Farmer and her daughter had been at the hospital where Farmer’s niece was in labor. They were there for about two hours before returning home.
Farmer says she knows that the plants were there before she left for the hospital.
“I had just come in from a meeting at 9:30 p.m., and I remember looking at my rosemary plants in their big pots thinking how lovely they were,” she says. “When we left, they were there.”
But when they returned from the hospital, they immediately realized that the plants were missing.
“I thought that maybe it was a prank – you know with the kids out for spring break – but no, they were gone,” she says.
At first, Farmer didn’t report the incident, holding out hope that it was in fact a practical joke. But after a couple of days she decided to call the police.
“I know that if you report an incident, it becomes a matter of record and it can help the police in the future,” she says.
The estimated loss for Farmer’s stolen property comes to about $250.
Although she says she feels safe in her neighborhood, Farmer and a few other neighbors have talked about setting up a crime watch group.
“We seem to be the only pocket in this area without a crime watch group,” Farmer says, noting that she has lived in other neighborhoods with crime watch systems. “And I think we need one here.”
According to Deputy Chief Elliston of the North Central Substation, while there is not much that residents can do to deter this type of crime, having a neighborhood crime watch can be very helpful.
“When reporting offenses, to help police solve the crime, if you have a neighbor that is home all day, check with them to see if there has been any suspicious activity. Lots of times something can spark their memory,” he says.
Adds Elliston, “If people have a crime watch, they know to watch out for each other, and lots of times they provide investigators with very valuable information.”
Farmer is hoping that this was an isolated “oddball” incident, and that it won’t happen again. But she’s still hesitant about replacing the missing items.
“I don’t know what to do. My husband says we will cement them into the porch,” she says.
“How are we supposed to beautify our homes when people steal our plants?”
