SALISBURY — Criminal charges sprouted for a Kannapolis man after he allegedly stole thousands of dollars in plants last year from a business on Flowers Lane in Salisbury.

Matthew Wesley Miller, 28, was charged last month with felony larceny, injury to personal property and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Miller is accused of stealing $8,000 in plants, a utility trailer and $14,600 in small trees such as Japanese maples and green giants from the landscaping business Artic Eden while the owner was hospitalized for COVID-19. Miller is a former employee of the business, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said.

He was arrested Jan. 5. The Rowan Sheriff’s Office seized $8,000 in plants that were returned to the victim.

In other Rowan County Sheriff’s Office reports:

• A man on Wednesday reported a break-in in the 2300 block of Webb Road in Salisbury.

• A woman on Wednesday reported the theft of a license plate in the 200 block of Dunns Mountain Church Road.

• Olivia Raven Moss, 18, was charged Wednesday with felony possession of a schedule two controlled substance in the 14100 block of U.S. 52 in Gold hill.

• Tony Lashay Gadson, 29, was charged Wednesday with felony assault by strangulation on Needmore Road.