Theft of landscape equipment is not rare. The following incidents occurred in the last couple of months alone. By learning about the thieves' M.O.s, you can better safeguard your gear.

PLYMOUTH, Mass.
Two men pleaded not guilty to stealing more than $150,000 of landscaping equipment from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and New York state. They would search out the equipment at night and often stake out the location before stealing the equipment.

BRANDON, Fla.
Thieves broke into a man's car at night, were able to put it into neutral and move it out of the way so that they could steal the man's trailer parked between his and the neighbor's house. Inside the trailer was more than $8000 in landscaping equipment.

LIMERICK, Pa.
Three men have been charged with stealing more than $17,000 of equipment from local landscaping companies. Two of them are former employees of area landscape companies. The men would drive around during the day, looking for landscaping companies that were out on jobs, steal their equipment and then pawn the items at local shops.

WILLOUGHBY, Ohio
Police are seeking a man who stole landscaping equipment at about 4:30 p.m. from a landscaping crew while they worked after parking their vehicles in the corner of a grocery store parking lot.

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y.
Landscaping equipment worth $2,000 was stolen from a job site when, while the landscaper was working, someone cut a security cable and made off with several pieces of equipment from the bed of his truck.

MOUNT AIRY, N.C.
A man was charged with stealing landscaping equipment from an unattended utility trailer. Also found in his possession was equipment stolen in 2012 that was identified by its previously recorded serial number.

MIDDLETOWN, Conn.
A security camera did not prevent a thief from towing away from a residence a ten-foot trailer loaded with $20,000 in landscaping equipment. The crime occurred at around 9:40 p.m.