Police: Thieves Target Lawn Care Items

Local thieves continue to target lawn maintenance and landscaping equipment, according to a Mauldin Police incident report.

Reports of such thefts have gone up in and around Mauldin as the summer lawn-care season approaches. In the latest reported theft, a landscaper who stores his work truck, trailer and landscaping equipment at a warehouse on New Neely Ferry Road told Mauldin Police thieves recently made off with more than $1,600 worth of his equipment, an incident report said.

The Mauldin man reported that a thief or thieves entered the space he rents from a local business and stole a Stihl-brand hedge trimmer, a Stihl leaf blower, a motorized Northern Star-brand pressure washer, and a Honda push mower with a combined estimated value of $1,650, the report said.

Though the entrance to the warehouse area where the equipment was stored is blocked by a locked, rolling fence, the culprits apparently jumped it to get inside, the report said. 

To get the bigger items out of the property, the thief or thieves used a wire cutter to cut a hole in a fence surrounding the area, the report said.