Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

John King, owner of Specialized Saw & Mower in Roanoke County, said a recent break-in triggered alarms in his store.

“I was chasing them, but they got away. They stole the whole setup — my mower, my trailer and all.” - Charlie Hartman

One morning last month about 10:30, Charlie Hartman pulled up to his house just in time to see two strangers driving away with his flatbed trailer hitched to their truck.

Parked on the trailer was his $4,000 Cub Cadet riding mower.

Hartman, 56, a Vinton contract landscaper, had just stopped at home on his way to a doctor's appointment. Suddenly he found himself in a car chase down East Virginia Avenue, up South Pollard Street and past the police station.

"If I'd been two minutes earlier, I'd have been right on top of them hooking it up," he said. "I was chasing them, but they got away. They stole the whole setup -- my mower, my trailer and all."

Two days after that, Hartman said, he was at a Roanoke used car dealership when the same truck rolled onto the lot with his trailer. The driver, he thinks, was looking to sell it.

"When I went to question him, he took off real fast," said Hartman, who later found the trailer, minus the mower, abandoned a few blocks away. He has identified a suspect from police mug shots, but hasn't gotten his Cub Cadet back. "I've been here 17 years and not even had as much as a toothpick taken from my yard. I keep everything now locked up like Fort Knox," he said.

He's not alone. Although Vinton police and the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office said they haven't noticed a significant rise in thefts of lawn equipment, many other areas are citing a sharp increase. Roanoke did not submit information.

Salem police Lt. Mike Green said that since mid-May, there have been about a dozen reported thefts of lawn equipment in the city, including trailers, riding mowers, pressure washers and leaf blowers.

"What we've had in the last two months is definitely unusual compared to any other summer I can recall in 17 years," Green said.

A list compiled Tuesday by Roanoke County police tallied 88 reports of similar incidents between May and August, including items such as chain saws, leaf blowers, front loaders and tractors.

"We've seen the same thing all over the county, particularly in the west end," Roanoke County police Lt. Chuck Mason said. He said he believes the activity has continued into this month, despite some arrests.

"I had all of my equipment stolen out of my front yard in the middle of broad daylight," said Kevin Smith of Roanoke County. He runs The Grass Gobbler, a landscaping business. On July 3, his trailer and all of his equipment, which he valued at about $10,000, were taken while he was out of town. He had thought it was covered under his homeowner's insurance, but it wasn't. Now he uses a borrowed mower and trailer to service his clients.

Another Roanoke County business owner, John King, recently felt the sting of the trend.

Just before 1 a.m. Sunday, King, who for 15 years has operated Specialized Saw & Mower on West Main Street in Roanoke County, got a call from his alarm company. A back door window at his shop had been smashed, but it appeared nothing was taken.

"As soon as the glass broke, sirens went off inside and out," said manager Vicky King, John King's sister.

The fenced-in business, which is decked out with signs and decals announcing its security system, had seen two minor thefts in the past six months but nothing the owner felt was worth reporting.

"When they start breaking in, that's a different story," John King declared. "I just think it's a shame.

"State police headquarters is one block down the street."

Other counties tell the same tales.

"I would have to say we are seeing an increase in [lawn equipment] larcenies, I'd say on the average of one a week," said Capt. Kevin Adams of the Bedford County Sheriff's Office.

Lt. Steve McGuire said Tuesday that between April and July there were about 25 incidents in Franklin County, "a large increase."

"We've had commercial mowers taken off of people's carports, as well as break-ins to garages and outbuildings," he explained. He cited thefts of a half-dozen utility trailers, a tractor, mowers and a $7,000 all-terrain vehicle, largely around Wirtz, Scruggs and Hardy.

"We have made some arrests, and we do not feel it's the same individual performing all of these larcenies, but they very well may be connected," McGuire said. "We do have a good amount of outstanding cases where no arrests have been made.

"That's because we've had so much of it."

All of the officials interviewed said it's not difficult to find a catalyst behind the increase in thefts.

"The economic hardships have something to do with it," McGuire said. "Lots of people, bottom line, they're going to provide for themselves and their family. You probably do have a number of people who, but for the loss of a job, might not be doing it. Not that you condone it or that it's right."

As thieves go to greater lengths to steal equipment, consumer documentation becomes more important.

"The majority of people, they might know the brand name [of their equipment], but they usually don't have more than that," Adams said.

"Lock them up, mark them and record all the serial numbers, model numbers, and definitely keep that on file," Green recommended. "Get a tool-and-die kit and engrave an ID, anything that would make it distinct."

Green said that when law enforcement officials recover stolen goods, they frequently have no way of connecting them with their owners.

With a serial number, McGuire said, investigators can identify stolen goods, even out of state, through the FBI's National Crime Information Center.

"If a police officer for any given reason was to run a registered number, it's going to come back stolen," he said, adding that the item can then be returned.