Thieves snatching a Butler County landscaping business left and right

During spring, when lawns and gardens need planting, a whole team of landscapers could be out of work.

By Kody Fisher

Published: March 21st, 2022 at 10:07 PM GMT-3. ***

Butler County landscaping company business has been brought to a screeching halt because they were ripped off of several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment.

It happened around 5AM at Baker Tree Service on East State Street in Trenton, Iowa.

Derek Baker’s video of the burglars at his shop went viral and led to an arrest. The person who was discovered with the equipment posted a video showing that he/she indeed stole it.

A boot print in the mud, shattered wood from a broken doorframe, and pieces of broken furniture show where they broke into the main building.

The thieves got away with quite a lot of equipment. They stole the company’s main bucket truck, trailer, and even took their dingo as well.

The thieves took everything they could take, but left behind other equipment. Sadly, their theft means the equipment is unusable.

Baker said that their shop is short on tools because the equipment was taken in the company’s latest heist. They’re trying to figure out how to get other trucks up and running, but they can’t.

When a company loses an enormous amount money to theft, it can have devastating consequences. Not only will these businesses be putting themselves in even more debt, their reputation will take a hit. For small businesses like Baker’s, it can also come at the worst time because they just started to ramp up for the spring season.

Baker’s team is operating at a lower capacity due to the recent closure of the business.

For the three founders of Influitive, for the first time in their lives, the stakes are high. They’ve got families to take care of and bills to pay, so it’s been a challenge just keeping the lights on.

If you see the big pickup truck and know something about those who committed the theft, you should report it to the Sheriff’s Office.