Businessman Charged With Destroying Oaks
A Studio City mini-mall manager was charged Monday with illegally chopping down protected oak trees without a permit after he allegedly removed several trees in April, Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn’s office announced.
Los Angeles resident Richard Dunn was charged with two misdemeanor counts of destroying protected species of oak trees without the proper city permit, said Deputy City Atty. Brooke White.
Dunn, who manages the Ventura Boulevard Mall at 12038 Ventura Blvd., was investigated by the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Maintenance’s Street Tree Division after several people complained that trees had been removed from an adjacent ravine April 8 and 9.
According to White, investigators determined that a valley oak and California live oak were among the trees allegedly cut down at Dunn’s behest. The oak species are protected by a 1980 city ordinance designed to preserve what remains of the oaks that once blanketed large areas of the San Fernando Valley.
Dunn will be arraigned Sept. 26 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.
If convicted on both counts, he faces a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.
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