Florist robbed while owner gives back to veterans

HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Westmoreland County florist was out giving flowers to veterans when she came back to her shop to find out she was a victim of a crime.

"I was out there making people feel good," said Carrie South, owner of Bloomin' Genius Exotic Flowers and Gifts in Greensburg. "You think about how hard we have worked to earn that money and in an instant it was gone."

The only bit of good luck for South was she had just installed cameras and caught the suspect in the act.

"I would not have changed anything I did. I was making people feel good, and I'm not gonna let one bad person stop me from doing good things," South said.

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South was handing out free bouquets to veterans and strangers in front of the veterans clinic, which is when someone else took advantage of her trusting heart.

"Literally during the same moment, somebody had slipped in my office here at my flower shop and took the PNC envelope out of my drawer and stole almost $1,400," she said.

"On top of the fact it's deplorable somebody would do something like this, they're doing it to somebody who's giving back to the community," said Trooper Steve Limani with Pennsylvania State Police.

Video shows the suspect dipping in and out of the office inside the shop on Outlet Way in Greensburg last Wednesday, opening drawers and checking behind him.

"He's checking a couple doors, snooping around and you can tell he's very concerned about being caught by another patron or worker in the store," Limani said.

He ends up swiping a bank envelope with $1,400 dollars inside.

Bloomin' Genius has never been a target of crime before; South says she just installed surveillance cameras five days before this happened.

"A couple hours later I thought, I'm going to go look at the video camera, I doubt I'll see anything, and lo and behold I did and I was shocked someone had done this," South said. "I really hope he gets caught, and I certainly hope he's not able to do this to anyone else."

Pennsylvania State Police encourages every business to install surveillance cameras in case of crime.

Cox Media Group