Plant-stealing woman with torch in mouth has struck at bakery for second time in two years

A woman with a torch in her mouth was caught on a surveillance camera on Wednesday night digging plants up from a business in Atwater Village, Los Angeles, placing them in a shopping cart and walking away. The Village Bakery and Cafe had just recently installed beautiful new plants, and the owner is shocked at the woman’s night-time thievery.



“She digs through, she grabs what she wants, and she puts them in her shopping cart,” owner Barbara Monderine said. “It makes me really sad that somebody would do that. She is ruining what we’re trying to make look nice.” Monderine reportedly spent some $1,000 to have the plants and flowers planted in front of her business in late July.



While these plants lasted about two weeks, she says this is not the first time her floral decorations have fallen victim to the woman and her shopping cart. “She did it two years ago, and she totally cleaned us out that time,” Monderine said. “Both times we got her on our surveillance camera.” The business has begun posting flyers, believing the thief has roots in the neighbourhood and hoping someone may be able to identify her.


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Monderine also suspects the woman may be stealing from residents as well. “There’s a lady around her corner who said that her rose bushes were stolen,” Monderine said. While flowers can be replanted, Monderine says that the issue is about more than petty plant theft. “When you realize how hard it is to build a business, and then somebody comes along and takes stuff from you, it’s a little bit heartbreaking.”