Man charged for theft of Bonsai trees worth more than $8K

HOPKINS, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Brooklyn Park man has been charged for stealing multiple valuable and rare bonsai trees out of the yard of a Hopkins home.

Phong Yang, 36, was charged with felony theft in an August incident that involved stealing rare Bonsai Trees worth nearly $8,800, Hopkins police said,

Police say they were able to identify the suspect because the owner put a GPS tracker on one of the trees.

Yang has multiple active felony warrants in more than one county in Minnesota and has not yet been arrested, according to charges.

Surveillance cameras captured multiple images of suspect in the the theft of two bonsai trees in Hopkins, Minnesota. (Hopkins Police Department)

FOX 9 reported on the rash of thefts last September, which included surveillance video of the theft police released.

'Bonsai trees are so rare and valuable in some cases that the Como Park Zoo has an entire exhibit dedicated to them. They can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases, but they’re also a popular hobby plant for many gardeners.

"Some of these trees are hundreds of years old and they’ve been passed down from generation to generation, and there’s a lot of work involved in keeping something like that alive," bonsai gardener Dave Hinrichs told FOX 9 in September.

Bonsai tree owners set up security to dissuade thieves after rash of thefts in the Twin Cities

After trees worth thousands of dollars have been stolen in recent months from across the Twin Cities metro, bonsai tree are pushing to get their trees back.