June 11, 2002, 11:22 AM EDT
WEST PALM BEACH, FL — A Jupiter man has pleaded guilty to felony criminal mischief for knocking down a 300-foot swath of mangroves behind his home.
Anthony Squadrito, 38, plowed down the publicly owned plants for a view of the Loxahatchee River.
Assistant State Attorney Darren Shull and an investigator from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Krista Christian, said it was Florida’s first completed felony prosecution for the crime.
Trimming of the trees has been legally controlled since the Florida Mangrove Protection Act was enacted in 1985. Cutting mangroves without a permit remains a misdemeanor violation. But Squadrito was charged with felony mischief because of the amount he had destroyed.
Squadrito, who’s already paid $125,000 in fines, will have to serve 18 months of probation. Adjudication will be withheld, meaning he will not have the felony conviction on his record, if he completes probation without getting into trouble again.
He could have faced up to five years in prison for the charge.
