Officials hope wave of vandalism is over

Anthem tree destruction seems to have ceased

Advertisement

It may be March or April of next year before Anthem residents see any new trees planted in their neighborhoods. About 500 pine, olive, ash and other varieties of trees were cut down over the last year by vandals.

Dea McDonald, vice president of planning and development for Pulte Homes, developers of Anthem, said early in the wave of vandalism maintenance staff replaced about 150 of the destroyed trees only to have 100 of the new trees cut down as well. At that point developers decided it was best not to try and replant any of the affected areas until they were confident the vandalism was over.

It may be over thanks to a recent arrest.

Retired police officer and Anthem resident Bill Edwards was driving home from work at about 2 a.m. on Nov. 26 and noticed some trees had been cut down that were standing the day before at Sun City Anthem Parkway and Scotts Valley Drive. He drove around looking for a suspect and found a man who appeared to be sawing away at another tree. Edwards said he confronted the suspect and found a concealed handsaw inside the man's coat.

The suspect was eventually identified as Douglas Hoffman, who was charged with one felony count of injury to other property in connection with at least 83 trees being cut down. He was booked into Henderson Detention Center and released on a $3,000 bail.

Edwards stands to get a $10,000 reward for his efforts if Hoffman is convicted, and the neighborhood stands to go back to normal.

McDonald said the cost associated with the vandalism will not be passed on to residents. Until Pulte is done developing Anthem, the company has control of the Sun City Anthem Board of Directors. If the vandalism had happened after the control is passed to the residents, it might have been an expense for them.

"This is really a developer cost," McDonald said.

Richard Cancellier, chief of the 115-person volunteer Sun City Anthem Security Patrol, said he has been on the lookout for copycat crimes since the arrest.

"We've got someone out there all the time but we can't be everywhere," Cancellier said.

He encouraged residents to be on the lookout.

"There's more eyes and ears out there than we can hire," McDonald said.

There's no guarantee the tree cutting will not start again.

"We went through a lot of effort to make sure it didn't happen the second and third time," Cancellier said.

But it did.

There has been some speculation that the motivation behind the vandalism was based on people's dislike for the trees and the way they block scenic views. Cancellier does not put much stock in those ideas.

"I'd say 99.9 percent of the people that live in our community want those trees back," Cancellier said.

Living in the middle of the desert, he said, trees and greenery are a welcoming sight.

Although the sight of the missing trees is not all that jarring -- there is other shrubbery to fill in the landscape -- McDonald said there has been a psychological impact on residents who were essentially collectively being victimized. He hopes that era is over in Anthem.

"We're optimistic that we have the right person in custody and hopeful we can put this situation behind us and move on," McDonald said.