Crime doesn’t pay in the city of Holmes Beach. People who break laws do.
With input from Holmes Beach Mayor Bob Johnson, the 12th Judicial Circuit Office of the State Attorney filed a deferred prosecution agreement Sept. 11 with Jose Vivero of Hillsborough County, requiring $6,000 in payments and 90 days probation for trespassing while trimming seagrape trees at the city’s 43rd Street beach access.
The agreement defers Vivero’s prosecution for a trespass charge and adds to the payments required by an Aug. 24 Florida Department of Environmental Protection consent order, which fined him $1,000 and requires him to foot the bill for an educational sea turtle-lighting sign.
Johnson and Suzi Fox, executive director of the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, expressed outrage after the May incident because the illegal trimming exposed the beach to lights that threatened to disorient nesting and hatching sea turtles.
According to the DEP order, it was “unauthorized excessive cutting of mature seagrape” seaward of the coastal construction control line.
Vivero, a 74-year-old businessman and owner of the 4301 Second Ave. vacation home, Casa Del Mar, was caught May 5 by the Holmes Beach Police Department paying a landscaper to trim sea grapes, after he’d been told twice by city officials not to cut them.
The 20-foot-tall trees on private and public property were cut to half their height.
According to the HBPD police report, Vivero told police he hired Miguel Guevara of Sunset Tree Trimming to improve the view from his beach house.
For the landscaper’s part in the illegal cutting, the DEP offered Sept. 4 to settle the matter if Guevara takes a DEP online course. Guevara said Sept. 16 he’ll be accepting the offer and is “glad to get the chance to learn about how to trim mangroves and seagrapes.”
For Vivero, the 12th Judicial Circuit agreement incorporates the DEP order and requires him to reimburse the city of Holmes Beach by Oct. 24 through payments to the Manatee County Clerk of Court.
Under both the DEP order and the court agreement, Vivero must employ a licensed arborist to design and implement a management plan to ensure the new seagrape plants take hold.
According to the deferred prosecution agreement, he must maintain the arborist and plan “for a minimum of a year and provide proof that the criteria is successful to the city of Holmes Beach.”
As of Sept. 15, it was not clear who at the city would be monitoring Vivero’s compliance.
Johnson said Sept. 14 he would look into it.
Holmes Beach code enforcement officer J.T. Thomas said Sept. 15 he expects a reputable arborist to be hired and the new plantings to be monitored “over a couple of years.”
Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said he’d be asking the city attorney at the Sept. 22 meeting for her recommendation.
According to the DEP consent order, Vivero is required to hire the arborist by Sept. 24.
Under the agreement with the state attorney, Vivero will reimburse the city for its purchase and planting of the new trees, the investigation and attorney fees. A $694 invoice for a turtle-friendly fixture at a neighbor’s property also was included in the agreement.
Vivero is assigned a pre-trial intervention officer to whom he must report. He is required to pay $50 court processing cost and $55 each month for his court supervision. The court program is set to expire Nov. 22.
About the deferred prosecution deal, Assistant State Attorney Charles Near wrote in a news release, “the agreement properly remedies the damage that was caused to our community while providing potential benefits that will be enjoyed for years to come.”