Porch pirates in New Orleans have found a new target, and it is not Amazon boxes. Doorbell cameras in the Lower Garden District and Central City have captured people hauling off potted plants, including a full elephant ear ripped from a porch, and neighbors say the same white SUV keeps showing up at the scene.
According to WDSU, a woman was caught on camera outside a home in the 1500 block of Annunciation Street, between Orange and Richard streets, on September 12. The victim told police that the woman damaged items on the porch before taking an elephant ear plant.
Four days later, on September 16, a separate doorbell camera near Second Street and Loyola Avenue in Central City recorded another person grabbing a plant, according to the same WDSU report. That footage reportedly showed a white SUV that appeared to already contain plants before it drove off. The person who shared that video with the station said someone in the same vehicle had pulled off similar plant thefts at least three times. WDSU said it was still trying to determine whether the September 12 and September 16 incidents were connected.
Two Plant-Theft Reports, Four Days Apart
The two reports describe separate New Orleans locations: a home on Annunciation Street and an intersection near Second Street and Loyola Avenue. The September 16 footage reportedly showed a white SUV.
Other coverage has also mentioned stolen bonsai trees.
What Charges Suspects Could Face
Louisiana addresses package theft under a separate statute, La. Rev. Stat. 14:67.6.
Louisiana's law can make package theft a felony carrying up to five years in prison, according to Nolo.
Doorbell Cameras Captured Both Incidents
Doorbell cameras captured the reported plant thefts.
Crime Stoppers of Greater New Orleans has publicized 504-822-1111 as a tip line, and tipsters may remain anonymous in some cases.
Porch theft is hardly unique to New Orleans, and delivered packages are a familiar target. The scale of that theft can range widely, too: Hoodline previously reported on a porch piracy ring leader sentenced to seven years for running a multi-million-dollar stolen property fencing scheme across state lines, a stark contrast to the apparently opportunistic plant grabs now being reported in Central City and the Lower Garden District.
