First, it was only a limb sawed from a tree at a North Figueroa Avenue intersection on April 13.
Then the subsequent day, three mature bushes had been lower down on West Temple Avenue in downtown, about two miles away.
A couple of days later, one other fell on North Broadway. Then it was three extra on West eighth Avenue.
The weird vandalism virtually went unnoticed as not one of the felled bushes had been initially reported to Los Angeles police — that’s till the morning of April 19, when three large bushes had been found downed throughout South Grand Avenue.
The photographs of these disturbing losses cycled by social media and rapidly made it onto native information. Two extra had been discovered close by that day, all sliced cleanly by their trunks.
The outrage and shock over the vandalism helped draw a slew of suggestions, together with surveillance video proof, that police would finally use to piece collectively the complicated case of the town’s tree cutter and monitor down a suspect earlier than extra bushes had been misplaced.
On April 21, two days after the South Grand Avenue bushes had been reported, police arrested 44-year-old Samuel Patrick Groft, discovering him in possession of a spray-painted electrical chain noticed. Detectives mentioned they’ve linked him to a complete of 13 tree cuttings in and round downtown over a span of seven days. Metropolis officers estimated injury for simply six of the bushes amounted to greater than $170,000.
Groft has since pleaded not responsible to a number of counts of felony vandalism. His legal professional, Julieta Flores, declined to touch upon the case after a listening to Thursday. Flores efficiently argued that two of the counts ought to be decreased to misdemeanors with out proof that the tree injury exceeded $400.
Nonetheless, Los Angeles County Superior Court docket Decide George Lomeli discovered that, general, prosecutors had adequate proof to proceed with their case in opposition to Groft.
Police arrested Samuel Patrick Groft on suspicion of felony vandalism at a homeless encampment in Los Angeles’ Chinatown on April 22.
(David Zahniser / Los Angeles Instances)
“It seems to this court docket that the costs within the underlying criticism … have been dedicated,” Lomeli mentioned at a preliminary listening to Thursday. “There may be possible trigger and a powerful suspicion that the conduct concerned this defendant, Mr. Samuel Groft.”
Groft, who was carrying a yellow Los Angeles County Jail T-shirt and had one hand handcuffed to his chair throughout the listening to, didn’t seem to react to the choice. Nonetheless, he typically despatched notes or spoke — typically fairly animatedly — to his legal professional throughout the continuing. He’s dealing with 9 felony prices and two misdemeanors, accused of reducing down 12 bushes and reducing off one limb on one other. He continues to be held in jail in lieu of $350,000 bail.
No motive for the vandalism has been shared publicly, however on the listening to Thursday, Det. Jose Hidalgo testified that Groft had admitted to understanding about a number of of the felled bushes after his arrest.
Whereas Groft didn’t explicitly confess to the vandalism when he was interviewed by police, Hidalgo mentioned that he recognized himself when proven surveillance footage of a suspect captured close to sure felled bushes.
Upon his arrest from a homeless encampment in Chinatown — the place he’d been dwelling — Groft informed officers he was shocked the arrest was occurring on Earth Day, Hidalgo testified.
“He mentioned one thing like, ‘I really like bushes, I really like bark, I’m an arborist,’” Hidalgo mentioned.
Monitoring down Groft concerned officers from three completely different Los Angeles Police Division divisions and many useful suggestions, officers mentioned.
Police launched a photograph of the person suspected of felling bushes in downtown Los Angeles, later figuring out him as Samuel Patrick Groft.
(Los Angeles Police Division)
After the downtown tree cuttings grew to become public, safety guards and enterprise house owners across the metropolis started reporting comparable cuttings that had occurred in current days. A number of of them supplied surveillance footage of a person on a bicycle, carrying a camouflage hat and carrying a backpack, duffel bag and what seemed to be a sequence noticed, officers testified.
One tip got here in anonymously with surveillance footage that confirmed an identical man reducing a limb from a tree on the nook of North Figueroa Avenue and West Avenue 26 in broad daylight. LAPD Det. Ryan Watterson used different surveillance footage to verify the person had come from a close-by Harbor Freight ironmongery shop — the place a receipt from the shop confirmed each his identify and that he had purchased a sequence noticed that day.
Utilizing that info, detectives had been in a position to find Groft at a homeless encampment the place he had beforehand talked to a scholar journalist from Cal State L.A. about dwelling on the streets. Groft was cooperative throughout his arrest, Hidalgo mentioned. They present in his possession the identical model chain noticed he had purchased from Harbor Freight, in addition to a motorcycle, duffel bag and hat that matched lots of the pictures from surveillance footage the place bushes had been lower down.
Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Cynthia Valenzuela mentioned a number of of the bushes had been lower down throughout the day, others at evening. The primary limb was lower from a tree on North Figueroa Avenue on April 13; three bushes had been lower down at 717 W. Temple St. on April 14; on April 17, one was lower from 555 North Broadway; three bushes had been downed at 1550 W. eighth St. on April 18; and 5 had been lower on April 19, 4 of them on South Grand Avenue and one on South Hope Avenue, she mentioned.
The three at 350 S. Grand Ave. had been Chinese language elms, whereas the others close by had been ficus bushes, Valenzuela mentioned. The three on West eighth Avenue had been a sort of dragon tree, and those on West Temple Avenue had been junipers, she mentioned. Some had been on metropolis property and others had been on personal property, she mentioned.
Dan Halden, a spokesperson for the town’s Bureau of Avenue Providers, had beforehand mentioned the town was eradicating the remaining stumps and evaluating the substitute value. He was not instantly obtainable Thursday to offer updates on doable tree substitute plans on metropolis property.
