CLEVELAND — A brother and sister have been ordered to pay $20,000 to the Cleveland Metroparks after cutting down a 200-year-old tree in Strongsville's Mill Stream Run Reservation last year.
According to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, 57-year-old Todd Jones and 54-year-old Laurel Hoffman pleaded guilty to one count of theft and were sentenced for cutting down and selling an over 200-year-old Black Walnut tree. In addition to paying Cleveland Metroparks $20,000, the siblings received a suspended sentence of six months in Cuyahoga County Jail.
“These siblings purposefully destroyed invaluable park property for their own personal profit, and we cannot allow those destructive actions to occur without consequence,” said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley in a statement. “Our regional park system is our greatest community asset, and we take our duty to protect it very seriously.”
O'Malley's office says sometime between September 17 and September 23, Jones and Hoffman contracted a tree felling company to remove the Black Walnut tree located over seven feet from his property line near Royalton Road and Valley Parkway in Strongsville. They also agreed to sell the company the wood for $2,000. The wood was then sold to a sawmill in Geauga County.
On September 25, the Cleveland Metroparks Police Department (CMPD) responded to the report that tree had been cut down on the Metroparks property in Strongsville. The surrounding area had also received severe damage including recently planted saplings.
An investigation conducted by CMPD revealed the Black Walnut tree was worth over $28,000 and the cost to replace the tree and fix the surrounding damage was over $100,000.
Jones assured the tree felling company, both verbally and in writing, that the Black Walnut was located on his property. This was despite the fact that a surveyor’s stake, recently planted saplings in line with the tree, and a publicly available property search made it apparent the tree was located on park property. CMPD referred the matter to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.
“The forests of our Emerald Necklace are to be conserved for generations,” added Jennifer Grieser, Cleveland Metroparks Director of Natural Resources. “While this more than 200-year-old tree cannot be replaced, thanks to the County Prosecutor’s Office the restitution from this case will support tree plantings for the future.”
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