TruGreen Fired a Technician Who Left Fertilizer Clumped Into a Swastika on Monica Hill’s Rochester Lawn, and the Sheriff Is Investigating

Monica Hill’s lawn was due for its last treatment of the season. A TruGreen technician came to her Rochester, Minnesota, home to apply it. When he left, there was fertilizer clumped on the grass in the shape of a swastika.

Her husband saw it first, from the street. TruGreen has since fired the technician, cut out the damaged turf and laid new sod, and the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office is investigating, KTTC reported.

A Routine Fall Treatment

Hill and her husband moved to Rochester last November. This was their first fall in the house, and their lawn company was scheduled to make its final seasonal application.

That kind of late-season visit is common. University of Minnesota Extension notes that a “winterizer” fertilizer is used to help prepare lawns for the cold months, though it says the benefit may be small unless a lawn is short on potassium, and that nitrogen is the nutrient lawns need most.

What Hill found was not a normal result. She told the station that a neighbor’s security cameras show the technician sitting outside her home for a while before doing a brief amount of work. Afterward, fertilizer had been left in clumps forming the symbol on her front lawn.

The footage gave her more than her own word. It showed how long the technician was at the house and how little time he spent working, according to her account.

What the Symbol Means

The swastika is one of the most recognized hate symbols in the world. The Anti-Defamation League notes that Hitler made it the Nazi Party’s main symbol in 1920, and that the Nazi regime’s crimes, the Holocaust above all, turned it permanently into a symbol of hate. White supremacists still use it widely today, often in altered forms and alongside other hate symbols.

For a family that had lived in the city less than a year, finding it on their own front yard was a shock. Hill called law enforcement to document what happened.

TruGreen Fires the Technician

TruGreen moved quickly once Hill complained. She said the company apologized on Monday, cut out the damaged grass on Tuesday and laid new sod on Wednesday. It also promised to fix any problems that show up in the spring.

In a statement to the station, TruGreen said it condemned the former technician’s actions and had fired him. The company said it had met with the customer and would restore the lawn. It did not release any information about the former employee.

Replacing sod this late in the year comes with its own care. University of Minnesota Extension advises laying fresh sod as soon as possible after delivery, ideally within a day, keeping it moist but not soggy for the first few days and then cutting back on watering. A tug test after 10 to 14 days shows whether it has rooted.

The Sheriff’s Investigation

Hill was referred to the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office, whose Investigations Division handles follow-up on cases referred from patrol. The division is looking into the incident, and the investigation is ongoing.

No charges had been announced as of Oct. 28, and the sheriff’s office had not named the former technician.

A Lawn Restored, a Question Left Open

The grass in Hill’s front yard has been replaced. The patch that held the symbol is gone, and TruGreen has said it will come back if the new sod struggles in spring.

What remains open is the investigation, and why a technician sent to do a routine fall treatment left that behind on a family’s lawn.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: ProtoKiwi – CC BY 4.0/Wikimedia Commons