Police are searching for leads after $22,000 worth of trees were cut down and left scattered around Cherry Creek Bike Trail in Parker’s Cottonwood Park early Christmas morning.
Parker police were notified by residents Christmas morning that 22 trees — each worth about $1,000 — were cut down and lying throughout the park and on the bike path, Officer Dawn Cashman said.
“We’re thinking it must have occurred Christmas Eve into Christmas morning, and that’s about all we have,” she said.
The trees had been planted within the last three months, Cashman said. Also, the cut-up trunks and branches from three trees were found stuffed in a portable toilet.
“We have no suspects,” she said. “We’re hoping somebody will remember seeing something suspicious, so we’re really relying on the public’s assistance to help us catch this person.”
Cashman pointed out the senselessness of the crime.
“It’s not like they took the trees to build a fort or burn a fire,” she said. “They were cut down to just be left in place.”
Anyone with information on the crime can call Parker police at 303-841-9800.
