Man Ordered to Serve Time Cleaning Up

A man who took 20 tons of gravel from a neighbor’s yard was sentenced Tuesday to 45 days on a Caltrans work crew, after a jury rejected his claim that he was simply abating a nuisance.

Michael McKenzie, 59, of Tujunga was accused of stealing the gravel from in front of a Shadow Hills home where it had been delivered for landscaping.

McKenzie chose the sentence as an alternative to 60 days in jail, said Apraham Atteukenian, deputy city attorney who prosecuted the case in San Fernando Municipal Court.

“Usually 45 days of Caltrans is basically harsher than a jail sentence; the defendant will actually have to complete 45 days,” he said.

McKenzie will clean highways and public restrooms, among other things, under the sentence imposed by Judge Randy Rhodes.

“It’s not something anyone would want to do, especially in the summertime,” Atteukenian said.

McKenzie’s sentence includes 24 months of probation, $1,200 in restitution and a court order preventing him from contacting the victim or witnesses.

The homeowner told authorities that he paid $1,200 for 50 tons of gravel, which was delivered in front of his home Feb. 27. The homeowner left at 7:30 a.m. Feb. 28, and when he returned five hours later, the pile was 20 tons short. Some of the remaining gravel had been moved so that it blocked his driveway, costing him $600 to have it removed to gain access.

Neighbors told police that McKenzie, who stores equipment, including a skip loader and dump truck on a lot near the victim’s home, used them to move the gravel to his lot, where investigators found it had been dumped.

Jurors rejected McKenzie’s claim that the gravel had been illegally dumped and that he was merely abating a nuisance, Atteukenian said.

McKenzie was found guilty May 27 of one count of theft after a two-day trial and about three hours of jury deliberation.