Man steals hedges around Fort Myers home

Zac Lavoie spent $2,500 to plant clusia hedges around his home, and now they’re gone.

That money went out the window when his girlfriend caught someone stealing these hedges.

“She yelled at him and said, ‘Hey, what are you doing? Get off the property,'” Lavoie said, “and he said, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I won’t come back.'”

The man came back each week, and each time, he clipped another five feet of the hedges.

“I called the police and said, ‘This guy is trespassing and stealing clippings,'” said Lavoie. “And they basically said, ‘We’ll get to it when we can.'”

Lavoie took matters into his own hands. He hired a private investigator to track down the thief’s car, address and phone number.

When he found the thief’s phone number, Lavoie called and left a message, but that only made it worse.

“He was there every single day last week, and then he started urinating in my yard,” Lavoie said.

“Stealing these hedges is not as rare as you might think it is,” said John Pedicino, president of Fort Myers Tree Service.

Hedges can be worth several hundred dollars depending on the size and type of hedge.

“Thieves either go and plant these at their own location, or you’ll see them pop up on Craigslist as a plant sale,” Pedicino said. “There’s definitely value in these.”

“I think he’s selling and repopulating the clippings,” said Lavoie.

A Fort Myers Police officer did give the suspect a trespass warning.

“I wanna make sure that he’s basically receiving the consequences,” Lavoie said.

Lavoie also filed a criminal mischief charge with the state on Friday.

He hopes the trespass warning keeps the thief away for good.