Jihad Against The Landscaping

A saw succeeded where persuasion failed:

HENDERSON, NEV. -- Cloaked by darkness, a saw tucked under his jacket, Douglas Hoffman skulked through suburbia, methodically killing trees.

He severed some. Others he sliced just enough so they would slowly die. In a year's time, authorities said, he wiped out more than 500 trees near an upscale retirement community just south of Las Vegas.

In November, a jury convicted Hoffman, 60, on 10 charges in the destruction of nearly $250,000 worth of mesquite and other trees. He will likely face sentencing next month and could get as much as 35 years in prison.

...The retirement haven of Sun City Anthem is typical of the neighborhoods that have ballooned Henderson's population from almost 65,000 in 1990 to more than 240,000 last year. The development's 7,000 or so homes are governed by a lengthy list of rules that took a real estate agent more than an hour to explain, said Charles Davis, a resident who runs a Sun City website.

...Five years ago, Hoffman and his wife, Debbie -- who live most of the year in Goodyear, Ariz. -- bought a 1,632-square-foot home on Colvin Run Drive.

Hoffman, who had retired from military base construction work, had taken landscaping classes and spent hours pruning in his Henderson yard.

"Plant life is precious to him," said Debbie Hoffman, 44. "It's not a human life, but it's a life. When a bush would die, he wouldn't be crying-upset, but he'd be upset."

Sun City was in its infancy when they moved into their home, with a back deck that overlooked the peaks rimming the valley and the Strip. Soon the trees, some of which had grown 8 feet tall, marred the couple's view. The Hoffmans asked if they could swap them out for shrubs but were told no, Davis said

In October 2004, the tops of about 60 trees were lopped off.

"We thought it was a fluke thing, maybe teenagers," said Sasha Jackowich, a spokeswoman for the community's developer, Pulte Homes.

Over the next year, even more trees -- some worth $1,450 apiece -- were felled.

...When they searched his home, they found a seven-page screed against the community's landscaping. Hoffman's wife told them that her husband had whacked back some branches in order to get a better view of the Strip. The foliage slaughter that followed was Hoffman's plan to cover up his initial chopping, Deputy Dist. Atty. Josh Tomsheck said.

...Hoffman, attorney Joseph Sciscento argued, was made into a scapegoat by panicked neighbors who thought they were immune from crime.

"It was a witch hunt," said Debbie Hoffman.

Her husband, who is being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center, could not be reached for comment.