Everyone knows the spooky thriller “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
In San Joaquin County, the sheriff’s office is terming a nocturnal caper as a case of attempted filching by the Soil Snatcher.
The malodorous drama occurred in the wee hours Thursday when dispatchers were contacted by the alarm company that serves the Scott’s Miracle-Gro plant in Linden.
Deputies rushed to the scene. But along the way, the spotted a Dodge Nitro hightailing from the plant. They pulled it over, ripe with suspicion. What deputies found reeked even more: 52 bags of fertilizer stacked inside the SUV. Following the clues — if not their noses — deputies found another 48 bags stashed nearby.
The 100 bags were valued at $1,848. One person was taken into custody.
“Looks like these ‘green-thumbed thieves’ just learned that crime doesn’t always bloom,” the sheriff’s office wrote on social media.
Or, um, pay.