The mysterious case of a chain-saw-wielding vandal who appeared to randomly terrorize trees in and around downtown Los Angeles last year has come to an anticlimactic close.
Just as the trial for Samuel Patrick Groft was about to kick off, the 45-year-old instead pleaded no contest Wednesday to a slew of vandalism charges stemming from the seven-day slashing rampage.
He was sentenced to two years in county jail and will pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a hearing in April, according to Cynthia Valenzuela, an L.A. County deputy district attorney with the environmental crimes division.
City officials had previously testified that the loss of three of the trees — for their cleanup and to replace them — would total almost $175,000.
Dan Halden, a spokesperson for the city’s Bureau of Street Services, did not immediately respond Wednesday to questions about the total cost of the tree losses or the replanting process. In May, he said that the city had started replacing the trees.
Groft was accused of cutting down 12 trees, as well as sawing the limb off a 13th, across a seven-day period beginning April 13 — sometimes in broad daylight, other times in the dead of night. Officials asked the public’s help to identify the vandal, who was wearing all black and riding around on a bike with a backpack and a duffel bag, which they believed held a chain saw.
Detectives were eventually able to identify Groft as a suspect after finding his name on the receipt for a chain saw, which he purchased just moments before authorities say he cut a large branch from a tree on North Figueroa Street.
Groft on Wednesday pleaded no contest to nine felony counts of vandalism and two misdemeanor vandalism charges.
Valenzuela declined to comment on the case further. Attorneys for Groft also declined to comment.
Without the trial, it’s unlikely the public will ever know what triggered the bizarre string of tree cuttings.
Groft, who was arrested at an encampment in Chinatown, had been living on the streets for some time. There was some concern about his mental health and whether his mental state had played a role, particularly after he told officers he was surprised that they were arresting him around Earth Day, and professed his affinity for trees.
“He said something like, ‘I love trees, I love bark, I’m an arborist,’” Los Angeles Police Department Det. Jose Hidalgo testified after his arrest.
In 2023, Groft also told a student journalist at Cal State L.A. that he had previously completed a mental health court diversion program, which provides residential mental health treatment to people facing jail time as an alternative to incarceration.
Groft’s attorneys in November expressed doubt as to his mental competency, but a judge deemed Groft competent after an evaluation.
In court filings, his attorneys also mentioned that Groft “may suffer from substance use disorder” and said he would be willing to participate in a substance use program as a condition of pretrial release.
However, it wasn’t immediately clear if he ever took part in such a program, as the judge denied the request for pretrial release. In the request, his attorneys said that his detention had allowed Groft to “reflect on the life of sobriety that he so desperately desires.”
