Did the payment include a note "payment in full"? What makes you think (?) that as additional costs are incurred payment will not be made?

They are just a few trees. I really can't see someone being imprisoned for cutting down a few trees in a swamp, given that the trees will be replaced anyway. I used to go out into the woods and cut down oak trees for firewood. And this was sanctioned by the federal government.

I think it's safe to assume additional costs will be paid as they occur. Someone wants to make this right, and it is the honorable thing to do. Perhaps they did not realize it was a criminal act.

How do you know that?

How do I know what?

The term"Hush Money" comes to mind.

I've kept up with this "adventure" throughout, and I do not recall ever seeing any such "official" statement, in any news source. It's possible I missed it. ANy chance you can provide or recall where you read that?

That Friends of Lake Miona, paid instead of the perps.
Could the be one and the same? Or, do you have some inside information?

Possibly, but why look a gift horse in the mouth? They were offered a deal that involved making restitution. Let them make full restitution and let's move on. I'm happy that their conscience finally got the best of them.

It might be only a quarter of a gift horse and I seriously doubt their conscience is what got to them; public pressure of various sorts did.

They may not be out of the woods yet if this was not a legally qualified (way too soft) deal.

Maybe the AG or another legal authority will ax the deal.

Is it just me or does the recent post remind anyone of the Salem witch trials or the book, The Scarlet Letter? Maybe the persons responsible could wear a big "C" for cutter.... Let's move on folks, nothing to see here.

Are you serious? The perpetrator(s) caused $40,000 in damage to property--payable by you and me. This is a felony punishable by five years in prison under Florida law.

It is just you.

In the absence of other information, I would assume the "Friends of Lake Miona" are actually the individual(s) responsible. It isn't clear to me why anyone else would pay. This was apparently handled through an attorney to preserve the anonymity. Presumably these sorts of "deals" have some documentation to the effect that there will be no future prosecution. It is not clear to me how you document a deal when you don't know who the deal is with.

The difference is that cutting down these trees is illegal.

The online news original article of the offer covers this issue. Do a search on that site.

I was being facetious.

There was not $40,000 in damage. Think it was 5 trees. The state fine is what all the money is about. They could plant 5 trees for less than $5,000.

Yeah, I did find and re-read that article regarding CDD5 deciding to not prosecute. And although it did mention that Dist. Mgr. Tutt inquired with the local State Attorney's Office on the matter of deciding to pursue prosecution or not, it sounded like all that took place was a casual phone call, at best, about the matter. I don't believe the State Attorney has officially weighed in on this via any correspondence or other communication, which I would interpret as Ms. Tutt not having more than a "what if" type phone conversation with someone in that office.

The other point that I don't think has ever been very clearly established is who, exactly, is/are the "damaged parties" that would have a say in whether to prosecute or not?? Is it Ms. Tutt and the VCCDD, the SLCDD, the Projectwide Advisory Committee (who seems to have been paying the fines and remediation costs so far), CDD5 where the damage occurred, CDD's 5-10 who are sharing in the costs by decision of the PWAC? Or, is it the "Developer" in the form of VLSI (Vilalges of Lake-Sumter, Inc.)?

Seems like the check was made out to SLCDD. Be interesting to see how those funds are now re-allocated back to the Districts that have been assessed a share of the costs.

It's also illegal to speed. But most people do it frequently, and we usually don't throw them in jail. They pay a fine and everyone moves on.

Ahhhhh1 We paid $30,000 fine, replanted trees $ ???, and will pay for annual progress inspections and remediation $ ???. Some on these threads have estimated that CDDs will suffer costs approaching $75-$100,000.

Why would we give rather affluents criminals a hugh discounr and then not prosecute. In my opinion, the money is not the main issue here, It is the act and some degree of appropriate punishment, apology and disclosure of names of those involved.

About the same treatment indigent folks get for public drunkeness.

And their public record is noted and name is most likely published in media.

I think the crime deserves public ridicule and the perpetrators should be branded with a scartlett T for the unlawful act of cutting them down.:D

I also wonder who the Friends of Bridgeport Lake Miona are ? I mean all we have is an article that says this group via an attorney submitted a check to pay for the value of the tree . How do we know it isn't a slight of hand by the SLCCD to shut people up? Who is paying for the other costs and expenses attributed to this crime? :D

On the serious side it does appear that those charged with bringing the perpetrators to justice split the baby to have done with it but justice demands that the perpetrators man up and pay all damages attributed to their illegal actions. No justice no peace.:boxing2::D

Speeding isn't usually a felony. As someone pointed out already, cutting down the tree may carry a potential jail time punishment. Trying to equate a simple speeding ticket with what happened with the trees is pointless.

Wonder if there's a Friends of Lake Deaton also, trees have been cut in the back of 3 houses there also. This will be the next big story.

Translation: Friends of Lake Miona = felons who cut down the trees and hope to remain cowardly anonymous and get off on the cheap.

How does that song from Grease go????????? Tell me more tell me more ..............

If I lived in million dollar plus village I would be embarrassed and want this to go away. IMO just cause they (if it was the one that paid for the unauthorized tree removal) got lawyer and paid part of the damages and after math Don't mean they escape felony charge. If this happens what does it say for our judicial system? Money talks and bullshyt walks. At the end of the trail IMO it's all about the money.

Oh my.........

Envey sure takes on different forms.

In a golf cart, speeding can easily result in a felony.

At the very least that is terribly unkind and it is so unfair. You would be mighty surprised at the folks who live in all kinds of homes here. I know one thing for damn sure. They all planned carefully, worked hard and saved their money. Financial security doesn't just fall on you.

I don't believe we were talking about a golf cart but thanks for your 2 cents ;-)

I am just amazed how vindictive posters are on this subject. I am nowhere close to Lake Minoa, but will gladly contribute the $3.00 I'ved save by not striping the MMPs to the Friends of Lake Minoa if it will end this topic....

For certain posters this is their raison d'être. They can't end it.

I love it when folks state their opinion on the subject at hand and then feel the need to have to grind their ax about location, size of homes, and anything else that is caught in their shorts that day.

Hence you are right, there are some things that do preclude TV being perfect:D

Mleeja, I'm not trying to be rude or a smart mouth, but this topic seems to bother you greatly.
Obviously people still have comments and opinions to voice.
When a thread is really getting on my nerves, I unsubscribe from it and stop reading the posts.

If someone stole $100,000 out of the cash drawer at a friends store, would you think it vindictive for people to be outraged. In fact, this crime has a similar consequence in the opinion of many posters. Stealing $100,000 would rise to the level of grand theft, a major felony.

I believe that there may be other issues now that the perps have evaded prosecution for all these months that may include obstruction of justice or related charges.

I think postings on TOTV are the proximate cause of the "Friends" coming up with a cash response to the CDD5 offer. Now that we have their attention ,I think that we should keep up not lessen the pressure.

For those who don't wish to read mine or other posts--- don't.

In fairness to everyone that posted, here is what is really at the heart of this matter. That a resident( quasi-neighbor) if you will, thought little enough of fellow residents and was going to leave them on the hook for a wrong s/he committed. And this happens to be a resident who could well afford a very upscale home here, and so one would conclude could easily meet his/her financial obligation. In this same vein this resident had the conceit to believe s/he was so privileged to have the right to act on this wrong with impunity.

Now we find with little explanation that this resident hires an attorney as a go between to strike a deal at a bargain price with no apparent consequences. We don't know what's in the deal and as we learned at the national level people get nervous when deals are made in secret.

I am incensed over the thinking that went into this act and the nature in which this resident(s) went about to hide their guilt. Forgive my histrionics but its like hiding the identity of the burglar . Like most on this forum,I am not a vindictive person but have a strong sense of fairness and so I can understand why some may believe that this wrong-doer(s) got away relatively easy.