Plant thief rooting through Norway, Paris neighborhoods

NORWAY — Door cams have captured footage of a woman prowling around Norway and South Paris neighborhoods late at night stealing plants.

A still image from video shows a woman June 30 leaving a Norway porch with potted plants. Submitted photo

Residents have taken to the Facebook page “Oxford Hills Gardens!” to warn neighbors about the thefts.

According to Norway Police investigator Jeffrey Campbell, one person has filed a report with his department and several others have complained by phone and social media.

Sam Camino, who lives on Myrtle Street in South Paris, has been hit by the thief twice — first in early June when three potted succulents disappeared. On June 26 around 12:30 a.m., her door cam video caught the image of a woman in a white sweater leaving her well-lit porch as she and her boyfriend sat inside watching television.

Camino said when her Ring camera doorbell kept going off she figured at first it was a stray cat. But when she picked up her phone, she saw that it was a person on the porch and began recording.

“Once she was gone I told my boyfriend to go outside and see if she took my bird feeder,” Camino said. “She did not but a few minutes later he came back in and told me one of my potted plants was missing.

“We jumped in the car and scoured the neighborhood trying to find her but no luck,” Camino said. “In my video you can see she didn’t have shoes on so we feel she couldn’t have gone far. I talked to my direct neighbor the next day and she said that she was missing some fishing poles from her garage.”

She reported the thefts to police.

Her neighbor, Abby Rogers, had a hen and chicks plant stolen, but snapdragons were added to her flower bed.

Another person on the“Oxford Hills Gardens!” Facebook page wrote that a plant was taken from her yard on High Street and later found around the corner lying on Porter Street.

“On June 30, 2022, Norway Corporal Federico responded to a residence on Marston Street for a report of theft of a flower planter,” Campbell wrote in an email. “The homeowner reported that around 2 a.m. a female came onto her porch and stole her wooden planter” about 3 by 12 inches with three metal pots containing herbs and the words “HERB GARDEN” burned into the front. “Total value is approximately $20. The suspect was observed on video but has not been identified.”

On July 1, the department posted a video from June 30 at 2 a.m. to its Facebook page showing a woman browsing a deck before walking away. The video can be seen at https://fb.watch/e4bE_UZRAk/.

The department asks that anyone with information about the thefts call 207-743-5303.