Man Accused of $1,000 Tree-Napping
A Japanese Maple is safe and sound after going on a road trip.
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A man is accused of transplanting a $1,000 Japanese Maple tree from a park to his own yard.
A Plainfield man stole a $1,000 tree from a Killingly park and put it in his own front yard, police said.
Kenneth Blanchette, 45, tree-napped the Japanese Maple from Cat Hollow Park on May 7, Connecticut State Police said. Some quick-thinking witnesses got his license plate number and troopers traced it. When they got to Blanchette's home, they found the tree standing in his yard. It had recently been planted, police said.
The tree has since been replanted at Cat Hollow Park.
State troopers say they found the Japanese Maple replanted in front of Blanchette's Plainfield home. He turned himself in at the state police barracks in Danielson on Thursday.
Killingly Conservation Commission Chairwoman Donna Bronwell told the Norwich Bulletin Thursday night, she is pleased the tree has been returned and it appears it will survive all the transplantings.
"I was at the park last Friday and I saw the tree had produced some new growth, so that’s a very positive sign,” Bronwell told the Bulletin.
The maple is one of several unique trees planted at Cat Hollow. A man who owned a small mill property on the land two decades ago planted them.
Blanchette was released on a $1,000 cash bond and is scheduled to be presented in Aug. 17 in Danielson Superior Court.
Japanese maple thefts don’t seem to be a rare phenomenon. This seems to happen a lot in the Seattle area, according to resident Web sites that monitor community thefts.
Two years ago, two valuable Japanese maples were stolen from a mansion in Spokane Washington, the Spokesman-Review reported.
One of them was estimated to be worth $2,000.
Posted Friday, Aug 14, 2009 - 9:20 AM EST
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