They Chopped Down a Centuries-Old Tree. Now They Face Felony Charges.

Last September, Jennifer Grieser, a manager astatine an bureau that oversees thousands of acres of parks, quality preserves and trails successful northeastern Ohio, was walking done a reservation, checking connected saplings, erstwhile she saw the freshly chopped stump of a black walnut tree.

The constabulary spoke to a adjacent nonmigratory who said her husband’s lad had precocious hired a logging work to chopped down the histrion and merchantability it for lumber.

“It’s not the transgression of the century,” the son, Todd Jones, 56, aboriginal told the authorities, according to a constabulary report.

But prosecutors charged Mr. Jones and his sister, Laurel Hoffman, 54, with expansive theft, saying that the histrion was not connected his spot successful Strongsville, a suburb of Cleveland, arsenic helium claimed, but connected spot owned by Cleveland Metroparks, a nationalist bureau that oversees 24,000 acres crossed the region, including trails, play courses and lakefront parks.

Jacqueline Gerling, a spokeswoman for Cleveland Metroparks, said the histrion mightiness person been much than 250 years old. It was worthy astatine slightest $28,800, according to the Cleveland Metroparks Police Department.

“Given our municipality mounting and the threats to steadfast histrion growth, it is precise uncommon to find a achromatic walnut of this size,” Ms. Gerling said.

In a statement, Michael O’Malley, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, said his bureau took earnestly its work to support the determination parkland system.

“We volition not disregard radical trespassing onto parkland spot and illegally cutting down irreplaceable trees for profit,” helium said.

Mr. Jones and Ms. Hoffman were besides charged with falsification. Both charges are felonies that transportation a maximum condemnation of 18 months successful prison, a spokeswoman for Mr. O’Malley said.

Ms. Hoffman and her lawyer, Christina Brueck, declined to comment. A antheral who answered a telephone to a fig listed for Mr. Jones declined to comment. It was not wide connected Thursday if helium had a lawyer.

In an interrogation with Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, Mr. Jones and Ms. Hoffman some said they believed the histrion was wrong the family’s spot line.

“This is truthful ridiculous that they’re doing this,” Mr. Jones said of the charges. “This is insane. There was nary sick intent.”

The constabulary said the histrion was portion of the Mill Stream Run Reservation, which abuts Mr. Jones’s spot and is overseen by Cleveland Metroparks.

Ms. Grieser, the manager of earthy resources astatine Cleveland Metroparks, said that erstwhile she recovered the stump, it was wide it had been “freshly cut,” according to the constabulary report.

At slightest 1 of the precocious planted saplings that she was checking connected astatine the clip had been destroyed erstwhile the histrion was chopped down. The cages that had been protecting the saplings, which were portion of a restoration project, had been smashed, the study said.

Mr. Jones took implicit the spot immoderate clip aft his father, Robert Jones, died successful 2015, according to the constabulary report.

Robert Jones’s wife, Debra Jones, transferred ownership of the spot to Todd Jones “as the effect of a fiscal hardship” that included $15,000 successful taxation liens, the study said.

Ms. Jones, who had lived astatine the location for 22 years, inactive lives connected the property, which is for sale, the constabulary said.

Ms. Jones told the constabulary that Todd Jones planned to person the histrion taken down truthful it could beryllium sold for timber and assistance the household wage disconnected the taxation liens.

Black walnut trees tin turn to up to 70 feet gangly and are known for their fine-grained, chocolate-brown heartwood, which makes them the “ultimate choice” for the accumulation of furniture, trim, gunstocks and high-quality veneer, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

“This tree, successful particular, was highly ample and besides uncommon crossed the parkland district,” the constabulary said successful their report.

It took a logging institution 3 days to chopped down the histrion and region it from the property, according to the report. The company’s owner, who dealt straight with Ms. Hoffman, told the constabulary helium paid $2,000 for the tree, according to the constabulary report.

The proprietor said Ms. Hoffman had told him that she owned the histrion and the property, according to the report.

A constabulary researcher said helium reviewed spot records, including deeds and photographs taken by a surveyor manager with Cleveland Metroparks.

“The stump is rather intelligibly connected parkland territory land,” the researcher wrote, according to the constabulary report. The histrion that was felled was 7 and a fractional feet from Mr. Jones’s spot line, the researcher found.

The constabulary said they called and texted Ms. Hoffman but she did not respond to their messages.

When the constabulary archetypal contacted Mr. Jones, helium told them that helium did not cognize thing astir who had removed the tree, according to the report.

In consequent interviews with investigators, Mr. Jones said helium had ne'er seen a bound survey of the property.

He told them that “it was ever good known that the histrion was connected his parcel of land,” according to the constabulary report.

Mr. Jones besides asked the constabulary not to complaint his sister and said helium was solely liable for what had happened, the study said.

“Nothing was done maliciously,” helium said, according to the report, adding that the probe seemed “pretty excessive for a tree.”