SAN DIEGO - Residents of a Scripps Ranch neighborhood say a man has been stealing from recycle bins and looking for more inside their backyards.

When the city picks up your recyclables, they cash them in. The money goes back into trash services, but crooks see it as easy money.

"Coming around and getting in your trash bins in the night... it's quite scary," said neighbor Jo Hinton.

It is not only scary, it is illegal. Once your trash cans reach the curb, it essentially becomes city property.

10News tagged along with code enforcement before. Some scavengers can rake in $1,500 a day, costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

But one thief has been hopping the curb and looking for more than just recyclables. He has been walking behind homes and rooting through residents' items.

"It's a concern that someone is opening up the gate to the back yard and doing that," said a neighbor identified as Andrea.

Andrea runs the community watch group on the block and said many people have seen a man pull up in a white Toyota truck and raid the blue bins. When people catch him in the act, he gets combative.

When asked if it makes him nervous that the man is combative with people, neighbor John Gregg told 10News, "Yes, very."

Neighbors say they are going to be on the lookout for the white truck, especially on Wednesday, since it is trash pickup day.