ENCINITAS — From the moment Debi McCarver pulled into her Coast Highway floral shop on the morning of Aug. 20, she knew by the flowerpots strewn near the side of the road that something was wrong.

“Everything was just gone … I was cleaned out,” McCarver, owner of Leucadia Floral and Plant, said.

Further examination revealed that more than $1,500 worth of pots, flowers and plants, including dozens of succulents and hanging baskets, were stolen from McCarver’s shop.

Over the next several days, two more South Coast Highway 101 floral businesses were targeted for similar style plants and flowers.

The Madd Potter was burglarized Aug. 21 and Oasis Home and Garden was broken into Aug. 22, Aug. 25 and Aug. 26. Both reported losses of $500 to $1,000.

Because the plants are fairly common and readily available, the shop owners believe that their plants may have been stolen to resell at local swap meets.

“The types of plants they took were pretty generic,” Connie Park, owner of the Madd Potter, said.

All three businesses were hit after receiving deliveries. “It’s like somebody was watching and aware when we got a full load of stuff,” McCarver said.

A break in the case came after a male transient was apprehended Aug. 26 as he was breaking into Oasis Home and Garden.

A representative with the Encinitas Sheriff’s Department couldn’t be reached to comment further on the case or the suspect’s identity. However, McCarver said she was told by law enforcement that despite the arrest of the aforementioned homeless male, the investigation into the thefts was ongoing.

McCarver said she believed the operation involved more than just the transient arrestee. She said she believed he could have been the “fall guy” for a group who paid him to extract the plants from the businesses to be picked up later.

Melissa Cerborino, owner of Oasis Home and Garden, said after the first breakin she found most of her plants stashed in a flowering fence line less than 20 yards from her shop, while Park said she also recovered a majority of her plants, which were ditched about a block from her shop.

“It’s all kind of strange,” McCarver said.