WASHINGTON — If police are right, then the flower gardens of Cleveland Park, Georgetown and other Northwest, D.C. neighborhoods are a little more secure.
Police have arrested a man they believe has been stealing flowers from residents’ front yards for years.
Come springtime, neighbors have complained about the disappearance of carefully-nurtured peonies, lilies and other blossoms. In a city burdened by crime, the flower-snatching may not have risen to a level of importance, but each dull patch of ground where flowers had been hurt those who had planted them.
In an email to residents of the Second District Police Station, police report that “the person responsible for the theft of flowers … was arrested on Friday, May 6, 2016.” The email eludes to past messages about a “person who for years had stolen flowers from private yards and on public space.”
When the arrest was made, not just police but also Uniformed Secret Service Agents swooped down on the guy police called “The Flower Thief” when he was spotted by a citizen in Georgetown.
WTOP’s television news partner NBC Washington identifies the man arrested as Maged Sandouka, 68 and homeless.
