A bizarre and unexpected crime wave has left a north Houston neighborhood perplexed, as a man was caught on home security cameras casually stealing saplings from residents’ front yards. The unusual thefts, which occurred in broad daylight on August 22, have raised questions and concerns among the community.
In the surveillance footage, the man can be seen calmly walking up to a young tree planted in a front yard. Without hesitation, he begins yanking at the sapling until it is uprooted from the ground. Undeterred, the man attempts to take another tree from a nearby yard, but a security alarm startles him, causing him to abandon his mission and flee the scene.
The audacity of the act left residents both baffled and amused. Kelly Kindred, one of the homeowners affected by the theft, recounted her reaction to ABC13 Houston. “Once the ‘Somebody took my stuff’ moment passed, I was like, ‘Who steals trees? Like, what? You stole a tree?’ I don’t understand,” Kindred said, highlighting the sheer oddity of the situation.
The incident was not an isolated one, as multiple holes were found throughout the neighborhood where other trees had been stolen. In another video obtained by ABC13, a woman can be heard confronting the tree thief, asking, “Why are you taking the tree?” The man, in an attempt to justify his actions, responds, “I’m straightening it up.”
Determined to stop the unusual crime spree, Kindred’s neighbor, Olivia Topet, took matters into her own hands. After realizing what was happening, Topet chased after the man, eventually catching up with him a few blocks away. She found him attempting to hide behind another tree, this one still planted in the ground, with the stolen sapling placed in a grocery cart.
“I said, ‘You can’t steal our trees.’ He looked at me and said, ‘I’m sorry ma’am, I’ll put it back,’ and then he ran away,” Topet recalled.
While the thief managed to escape, the bizarre nature of the crime has left the neighborhood on high alert. The community is now more vigilant, hoping to prevent any further attempts at tree theft. The incident has also sparked curiosity and confusion, with many wondering what could possibly motivate someone to steal trees from people’s yards.
As the investigation continues, residents are left to ponder the question that has echoed throughout the neighborhood: “Who steals trees?”