A Welland man who has erected a sign at the end of his driveway in an effort to recover three stolen marijuana plants is calling on witnesses for help because he thinks the police won't put the recent theft from his property high on their priority list.

Jon Langedyk, a resident of Rice Road in the north end of the city, has nailed signage to a hydro pole in front of his home that says his he was robbed on Wednesday between 10 and 10:30 a.m.

He provides his phone number and asks anyone with information to give him a call.

Contacted by The Tribune on Friday, he said a shed on his property was rummaged through — but more importantly, three plants he is now legally permitted to grow were ripped from the ground by two individuals driving a black Toyota truck.

He captured surveillance of the two culprits with cameras he has on his property and also spoke with construction workers across the street involved in a project at Niagara Catholic District School Board headquarters who told him they saw some of the crime take place.

He said he is waiting until he has more evidence before he contacts Niagara Regional Police.

"We don't have much to go on. I know what they're going to tell me — they don't have faces, they don't have licence plates," said Langedyk.

He said the three plants were six-feet high and budding nicely but were at least a month away from reaching full maturity — too early for them to be ready for consumption.

"Nobody expects this to happen this early in September," he said.

Langedyk doesn't believe the police will put much effort into finding his plants since he is not a licensed grower or large-scale greenhouse.

"They're not going to go around looking for someone's pot — but it's the trespassing that gets me," he said, adding that he is hoping to gather more information that can lead police "in the right direction."

On the Niagara and Area Crime Watch and Missing Persons Facebook group, another Welland resident has also posted about cannabis plants being stolen from his yard.

Niagara Regional Police spokesperson Const. Phil Gavin said he wanted to clarify that a "robbery" is a theft with violence or a threat of violence, calling this incident only a theft.

He also said theft of cannabis plants is something that can be reported to and investigated by police.

"If a member of the public were to call in just to report the theft of their plants, it would be subject to be handled like any other theft," he told The Tribune.

He also said it may be dispatched or deemed to be a matter for the alternate response unit — addressed over the phone. It could also be handled by a self-report system through the NRP's website, he explained.

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Gavin also confirmed that other incidents in Niagara involving stolen cannabis plants have been brought to the NRP's attention.

"We do have some reports of it in different areas of the region," he said, unable at the time to provide specifics on how many cases and in which municipalities.