First of all, it was just a sawn member of a tree in an intersection of rue North Figueroa on April 13.
Then the next day, three mature trees were killed on West Temple Street in the city center, about two kilometers away.
A few days later, another fell on North Broadway. Then it was three others on West 8th Street.
The multitude of bizarre crimes has almost gone unnoticed, because none of the slaughtered trees were initially reported to the police-that is to say until the morning of April 19, when three huge trees were discovered in South Grand Avenue.
The images of these disturbing losses traveled social media and quickly brought local news. Two others were found nearby that day, all trained proper through their trunks.
The indignation and shock concerning vandalism have contributed to drawing a series of advice, including surveillance video evidence, which the police would ultimately use to reconstruct the divest case of the city cut and find a suspect before more trees are lost.
On April 21, two days after the South Grand Avenue trees were reported, the police arrested Samuel Patrick Groft, 44, finding him in possession of an electric chainsaw painted with spraying. The detectives said they had linked it to a total of 13 cuttings of trees in and around the city center over a period of seven days. City officials estimated that damage for only six of the trees amounted to more than $ 170,000.
Groft has since pleaded not guilty to several leaders of criminal vandalism. His lawyer, Julieta Flores, refused to comment on the case after a hearing on Thursday. However, Flores successfully argued that two of the charges should be reduced to crimes without proof that trees’ damage exceeded $ 400.
However, judge of the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles, George Lomeli, concluded that on the whole, the prosecutors had enough evidence to continue their case against Groft.
“It seems to this court that the accusations of the underlying complaint … were committed,” said Lomeli during a preliminary hearing on Thursday. “There is a probable cause and a strong suspicion that driving implied this defendant, Mr. Samuel Groft.”
Groft, who wore a prison t-shirt from the County of Los Angeles yellow and had a handcuffed hand in his chair during the hearing, does not seem to react to the decision. However, during the hearing, he often sent notes or spoke – sometimes with animated – to his lawyer. He now faces nine crime accusations and two crimes, accused of having killed 12 trees and cutting one member on another. He continues to be detained in prison instead of a deposit of $ 350,000.
No reason for the crimes was publicly shared, but during the hearing on Thursday. Jose Hidalgo testified that Groft had admitted having known several of the trees slaughtered after his arrest.
While Groft did not explicitly admit the crimes when he was questioned by the police, Hidalgo said he had identified himself when he showed surveillance images of a suspect captured near certain slaughtered trees.
However, during his arrest of a homeless camp in the Chinese district – where he lived – Groft told the police that he was surprised that the arrest occurs on Earth Day, Hidalgo said.
“He said something like:” I love trees, I like bark, I’m a “” “said Hidalgo.
GOFT’s withdrawal involved officers from three different LAPD divisions and many useful tips, officers said.
After the city center cuts have become public, the security guards and owners of the city business began to report similar cuttings that had occurred in recent days. Several of them provided images of monitoring a man on a bicycle, wearing a camouflage hat wearing a backpack, a Duffel bag and what seemed to be a chainsaw, said officers.
A tip came anonymously from surveillance sequences which showed a similar man cutting a member of a tree around the corner of North Figueroa and West 26 avenue in broad daylight. Det. Ryan Watterson used other surveillance images to confirm that the man had come from a hard -of -the -art Fret hardware store – where a store receipt confirmed both his name and that he had bought a chainsaw that day.
Using this information, detectives were able to locate Groft in a homeless camp where he had already spoken to a student journalist from Cal State about life on the street. Groft was cooperative during his arrest, said Hidalgo. They found in his possession the same brand chainsaw he had bought at Harbor Freight, as well as a bicycle, a plug bag and a hat that corresponded to many images of the surveillance images where the trees had been slaughtered.
Dist. Dist. Atty. Cynthia Valenzuela said many of the trees had been slaughtered during the day, others at night. The first member was cut off from a tree on North Figueroa Street on April 13; Three trees were killed at 717 W. Temple St. on April 14; On April 17, one was cut from 555 North Broadway; Three trees were killed at 1550 W. 8th St. on April 18; And five were cut on April 19, four on South Grand Avenue and one on South Hope Street, she said.
The three at 350 S. Grand Ave. were Chinese elms, while the others nearby were ficus trees, said Valenzuela. The three on West 8th Street were a type of dragon, and those of West Temple Street were juniers, she said. Some are on the property of the city and others on private property, she said.
Dan Halden, spokesperson for the City Street Services Office, had previously said that the city withdrew the remaining stumps and evaluated the replacement cost. It was not immediately available Thursday to provide updates on any trees replacement plans on the city’s property.
California Daily Newspapers
