“This is a new low for criminals”: Homeowner captures video of thieves digging up Japanese Maple
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Some East Memphis Homeowners say thieves in the city have sunk to a new low, stealing trees from right out of their yards.
Jacque Sabin said earlier this month, two men used an ax to dig up a two-year-old Japanese Maple Tree from the side of her house on South Angela Road.
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“I went to walk my dog, and I noticed the bamboo stick that supports the tree on the ground, and then I looked up, and the tree was gone,” said Sabin.
It happened in the middle of the day while Sabin was at work, but it was all captured on camera.
In the two-minute video, a man in a green safety vest swings the ax toward the roots of the tree numerous times. Another man holding the Japanese Maple pulls it out of the ground, drags it down the driveway, and throws it into the back of a blue SUV.
“I saw them walking up, and I was like, what is going on? And then they went straight to the tree and started chopping it,” Sabin said. “I was in shock—I’m still in shock every day.”
On the same day, a Japanese Maple was stolen from the front yard of another house less than two miles away.
Stacy Wright lives near Park and Mt. Moriah and said her tree was also dug up while she was at work.
“I pulled into my driveway after work and immediately saw it was gone, and I basically fell to the ground and bawled my eyes out,” said Wright.
She said the tree was worth around $300 but had great sentimental value. She said she planted Japanese Maple in honor of her grandparents after she purchased their house.
“My grandfather loved Japanese Maples. So, naturally, that’s the first thing I bought and planted in my yard,” Wright said. “That tree meant way more to me than it probably should have.”
Sabin and Wright said they have not reported the thefts to the police yet but aren’t sure what good it will do.
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Sabin said the men who took her tree probably tried to resell it. She posted the surveillance video on a neighborhood app and Facebook and said she was keeping an eye on another Japanese Maple in her front yard.
“The whole neighborhood was shocked,” said Sabin. “My neighbor behind me said she was getting ready to spend a lot of money to have her whole front yard re-landscaped, and now she’s really nervous about it.”
If you know anything about the missing trees, call Memphis police at 901-545-COPS.
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