Investigators estimate that the recovered goods amount to $8,000.
An alleged thief repeatedly stole plants, expensive pots, and a 150-pound garden fountain from a California plant nursery, police say.
Manager Michael Sullivan tells Inside Edition he got so fed up with the robber’s repeated thefts at Roger’s Gardens Nursery in Corona Del Mar that he decided to take matters into his own hands.
After the third theft, Sullivan hid Apple Air Tags in his pots and plants and then used them to track down and foil the thief's plans.
“I was able to stick it in there, I numbered each one,” Sullivan says.
Not long after planting the trackers, the thief struck again and took home one of the pots hiding the tag.
Police were then able to track the stolen greenery to a house that was decorated with many of the previously stolen items.
“They took a video of the front of the house and sent that video to me and asked, ‘Does any of this look familiar’, and I said, 'all of it looks familiar, that's all our stuff,'” Sullivan tells Inside Edition.
Turns out the suspect was not selling the stolen goods for profit but rather decorating his home. Investigators estimate that the recovered goods amount to $8,000.
The prickly suspect was arrested and has been booked on suspicion of grand theft.
