Break-ins plague Armstrong Garden

Robert Chacon

With a large portion of its lot unfenced, Armstrong Garden Center is

a conspicuous target for burglars and vandals, and lately it has been

treated as such.

Since February, employees at the garden center, 1515 Foothill

Blvd., have been exasperated by break-ins and burglaries costing the

company about $15,000 in damage. During an April incident, vandals

spray-painted racial epithets on garden furniture and toolsheds,

turned over plants, slashed sacks of manure and smashed plaster

figurines, costing the company more than $11,000.

“There have been so many break-ins, I’ve lost count,” store

manager Katerina Morris said. “I’m getting tired of having to clean

up.”

The store rarely experienced break-ins before February, said Joe

Ward, regional manager for the Glendora-based company. Both Morris

and Ward speculated that the culprits enter the property by climbing

an iron fence around the store.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies from the

Crescenta Valley Station told him that patrols around the area have

been increased, Ward said.

Officials at the Crescenta Valley Station were unavailable for

comment Friday. Morris doubts the increased patrols have been enough

to deter the break-ins.

“We get broken into one day, we call the police, and the next day

it happens again,” she said. “I think it’s probably the same group of

people.”

Part of the problem is that the store occupies three parcels of

property, one of which is licensed from Southern California Edison,

company officials said. The lot is used to store small trees and

large potted plants, but is unfenced on the north side, so anyone can

walk onto Armstrong’s property. The lot is fenced on the side facing

Foothill Boulevard and topped with barbed wire.

“We would be very amenable to putting a fence up on the north side

of the property if the company requested that from us,” Edison

spokeswoman Christy McLeod said.

In the meantime, cameras, motion sensors and lights will be

installed at the store, Ward said.

The city will consider any request the company submits to the

planning department to install fencing on the property, city analyst

Robert Stanley said.