Am I the only one who finds it odd that The Villages would roll over and pay for this--or rather let residents pay for it--rather than insist on a criminal investigation? If such investigation has been done, why aren't the results reported to us? This is ridiculous.

Come on. Law enforcement here has an excellent record for catching bad guys. This should be child's play. TV homeowners are deserving of full disclosure. Something is very fishy here.

I'm not liking what is going on here. Can someone give us a citation for the SUN story

Maybe a nice big fat reward would help someone to come forward.

There was one I believe-offeed by the Sheriffs dept. Now everything has gone quiet?

It is very likely that the trees were removed for the benefit of the homes where the view was improved. Now proving that is another issue entirely. Exactly which home(s). Unless they have examined bank records and the homeowners were careless enough to pay with a check or a credit card, there is no trail unless someone comes forward with evidence. That won't be the landscapers as they would be in trouble too and our neighbors in the hood are not gonna squeal on each other. After all when one of those homes sell for extra because of the better view, then all the neighboring homes just went up in value also.

Well the last laugh will be on whomever was involved. According to the news article, the trees will be replaced, and the damage to the wetlands repaired....so the view will go back to what it was.....and the reward will still be there. I wonder how long the person responsible will enjoy looking over there backs to see who is coming to get them.....The world runs on KARMA, need I say more.

The Article in the newspaper did decent job of reporting what has transpired on this. This issue was discussed in detail at the monthly District meetings and the PWAC meetings for the last two months. None of the district supervisors are happy about what happened or that district funds will need to be used to restore the preserve areas.
As to which district pays, the answer is simple, all districts south of 466 are paying for the restorations. There are inter local agreements in place to cover items of mutual benefit to all the districts, the wetlands are in that category.
Again, this was all discussed in detail at the district and PWAC meetings. Attend the meetings, get involved, and become an active part of the governing of this community we all live in.

As to the ongoing investigation, we do have laws in this country and we assume innocent until proven guilty, Sumter Sheriff office is doing all they can within the confines of the law. Stop watching so much TV, you can't "put pressure" on someone to get them to talk. Assume for just a minute that you actually do know nothing of the incident and that you live in one of the homes that may have benefited from the tree cutting, how would you like to be treated by law enforcement officers? How would you be feeling about this "friendly" community after reading the last 9 pages of posts? This thread is turning into an electronic mob justice.

Well said. I regretted what I posted and took it down. You are right on all counts. To all new residents and wannabees, don't cut down or order a tree cut down on your property until you clear it with ARC. (They aren't the ultimate authority, but they do know the rules)

They already have committed a crime if they made a false statement to the sheriff's investigators.

Since the Villages makes up the majority of the population for Sumter County are there any Villagers on the Board? We should have a voice and presence in what goes on in Sumter County!

We have a voice. There are 5 commissioners and I think 3 of them live in TV.
http://sumtercountyfl.gov/296/County-Commissioners
BTW do you remember voting for county commissioner?

The crime is probably solvable if the Sheriff's Department is able to devote the resources to thoroughly investigate it.

There are only about 4 suspects (the homeowners who got the improved view of the lake). The trees were huge, so it is unlikely that the guilty homeowner cut them himself. Thus, he had to contact and pay a professional tree cutter. He probably did not anticipate all the scrutiny and was not as careful as he should have been.

Thus, if I were doing the investigation, I would:

1. Ask the four homeowners to let me look at their phone and bank records for the relevant periods. (Anybody who refused would be the immediate suspect.)
2. Subpoena the phone records of those homeowners and check for calls to tree-cutters. I would also subpoena bank records of the homeowners and look for large cash withdrawals during the relevant period.
3. Have a heart-to-heart talk with the tree cutter, and get him to flip on the homeowner--probably offer him immunity.

I think that there is a pretty good chance that the homeowner responsible for the tree cutting is reading this column. If so, I say to you, You should be very, very worried. Think along these lines: How much extra should I slip the tree cutter to buy his silence? Where do I get the cash without leaving a paper trail? (This could get very expensive.) What about my wife? (I better better not get her mad at me, and a divorce is out of the question until the statute of limitations on tree cutting runs out.) What about the neighbors? Who did I tell about this? Who saw what was going on? Are they going to continue to keep their mouths shut? Hell, I've got a lot to worry about. This isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

Don't be naive, local, state,and federal law enforcement put "pressure" on people all the time. Many times they will give the information because they don't want to be implicated in something big if they only knew about it or played a bit part in the scheme.

It is a big in some regards because it was done underhandedly...but it isn't big in the scheme of things. Wasn't it said that it could be repaired for thirty thousand dollars?

I would guess that the neighborhood is buzzing with talk.

If in fact the people involved are known by the police then why is the district paying for the repair unless of course the district is the guilty party and if they are the supervisors and the home owner should pay. Why is the other residents have to pay