$20,000 of trees stolen from The Bonsai Guy in Springfield, MO

[rockm]

Methheads...that is a possibility. I just can't imagine being stolen from three times. Once is to many.

Thieves think and do a$$hole stuff--The old "steal your car battery/tires/etc, wait til you replace them THEN steal your NEW battery/tires/etc" comes to mind. Had a neighbor who listed his car on Craig's List. Had a buyer come and test drive it. Thief managed to get the seller's trust enough to take the test drive "down the street" alone--yeah, he just kept driving-stole the car . Thief returned two days later and stole their other car out of the driveway with the spare keys on the stolen car's key ring...Thieves are a##holes...I believe the thieves here saw a lot of opportunity for exploitation. the first tree thefts were only to see what would happen...They saw not really much happened and went back to get better stuff...

 

[PattyB]

Methheads are definitely a possibility, Springfield is known for them. I think Rockm is spot on, easy as hell location in a older area of town with older homes just west of downtown. Springfields oldest dinner since early 1900’s is directly across the street and a corner lot. I actually had lunch at this dinner in July of 2019 though the bonsai shop was nonexistent at that time. Kansas City is a short 3 hour drive, maybe a buyer outside of Springfield who knows. St. Louis?

Whomever took these trees had easy pickings and obviously returned for more. Such a shame, why wouldn’t you at least secure your higher valued trees inside after the first incident? Sadly this seems like it was too easy.

 

[August44]

Sorry for the loss, but I don't see any pro-active defense going on here. Cameras, dogs with big long teeth...you can't just sit around and do nothing!

 

[Scrogdor]

Methheads...that is a possibility. I just can't imagine being stolen from three times. Once is to many.

This is interesting because I called a local nursery of mine to ask if they "still" sold bonsai, and they said no because people kept stealing them.

Time to start putting tracking chips in expensive trees, having security camera's, and some kind of wire lock on more expensive ones. I Think if you have any item that is worth thousands of dollars, it needs to be guarded and locked up. Thieves evolve with the times, bonsai are valuable, becoming more popular, and frankly probably easy to steal right now because no one thinks people will steal "Trees".

But when it comes down to it, people are posting some bonsai for 5,000$, thieves don't care what they're stealing, if its worth that much, it's a target.

 

[Rivian]

Most important defense is obscurity. Have stuff out of sight of scouts. Not an option for sellers though

 

[cchpg29]

Sorry for the loss, but I don't see any pro-active defense going on here. Cameras, dogs with big long teeth...you can't just sit around and do nothing!

Most likely he should have had cameras. Although People should not steal shit, its that easy

 

[August44]

Most likely he should have had cameras. Although People should not steal shit, its that easy

I agree with you that people should not steal, but sadly this is no longer an ideal world where people have a conscious and care, and it never will be again.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Artificially inflating the value of plants doesn't help, either. People have a tendency to talk about thousand dollar trees when looking at $100-200 trees. The uninitiated can't tell the difference. (Come to think of it, sometimes neither can the initiated) These thieves won't be back when they find that getting $50 apiece is a job, but other new thieves will need to be educated, the hard way.