Man walks into neighbor's yard, cuts down 50-year-old trees to improve his views

[edbermac]

A woman on the vacation island of Nantucket is suing her neighbor after he allegedly walked onto her property and cut down several of her trees for a better view of the ocean — and the increased property value that comes with it.

The lawsuit accuses Jonathan Jacoby of using a chainsaw to fell 16 of Patricia Belford’s nearly 50-year-old cedar, cherry, and Leyland cypress trees.

Three weeks after he allegedly cut down the trees, Jacoby listed his home for sale for nearly $10 million, according to the Boston Globe.

Listed among the home's features: its "sweeping view of the Atlantic Ocean," according to the complaint.

When asked why he destroyed Belford's trees, Jacoby provided a terse response.

"I wasn't trespassing, I was clearing out her crappy trees," he told the Boston Globe in a single-line email.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nantucket-man-walked-neighbor-yard-171813348.html

What an entitled asshole!

[question everything]

1. Should put a lien on the house to prevent the sale

Last edited Mon Jul 14, 2025, 08:52 PM - Edit history (1)

[SheltieLover]

52. Absoloutely!

[returnee]

66. Plus, he should go to jail. n/t

[jfz9580m]

90. He really ahould

If anyone fucked with the trees or wildlife in my yard:

[2naSalit]

2. Hope she wins everything...

She demands. What a fuckhead.

[rsdsharp]

3. In my state, if you do that you're liable for treble the value of the trees removed.

[KPN]

20. Same here -- Oregon.

[TomSlick]

59. Same in Arkansas.

[R Merm]

80. Also North Carolina

[Grins]

84. That's what the property owner claimed in the lawsuit.Triple damages...

…came to $1.4 million!

Then there are the charges of trespassing, conspiracy, fraudulent enticement, etc. that city can charge.

[electric_blue68]

4. ##$@/@+ BASTARD!

I love trees. 😞

Hopefully he can be taken to court.
.At least to get money to buy new trees!

[IbogaProject]

71. Triple the value of the trees plus lost value with her property

I hope he looses all his equity.

[MustLoveBeagles]

5. Jerk

[bucolic_frolic]

6. She has a good lawsuit /nt

[sheshe2]

7. Sue him for 10 million.

[sop]

8. Wouldn't it be a shame if his $10M house somehow caught fire and burned to the ground.

[ret5hd]

10. no, 'cause then she'd be out her trees...

and out the property she’s soon gonna own.

[live love laugh]

9. Guess who he voted for?

[CurtEastPoint]

12. I assume he's the prick who works for Blackstone. Fucker.

[live love laugh]

13. Crazy eyes and all ...

[BoRaGard]

16. republicon ethics and values suck sewage-pipe oysters

low low low

[Cheezoholic]

21. If that's him I'm very surprised he even knew which side of the chainsaw was the handle. Probably a hired tree hit job

from MAGAville

[ZDU]

35. His underwear

... might be tight fitting

[skypilot]

40. Are you sure that's him?

I googled him too because I just had to see what someone this douche-y looks like. There are a few guys named Jonathan Jacoby who come up in the image results.

[CurtEastPoint]

50. Pretty sure. I found a Nantucket based FB group that had a lot of comments about that particular guy

[onethatcares]

68. Ahh, and auditor for Arthur Anderson

I wonder if he was interning back in 2002.

[Blues Heron]

14. there once was a douche from Nantucket...

[xocetaceans]

86. Perhaps this will fulfill some things limerick....

Last edited Tue Jul 15, 2025, 07:12 PM - Edit history (1)

There once was a Dick named Jacoby
whose motto equated to "Blow me!"
'Twixt his house and the seas,
he cut down some trees
to clear 'his' horizons corruptly.

[Blues Heron]

88. Awesome! Bonus for utilizing the word twixt!

[xocetaceans]

89. Thank you. n/t

[Auggie]

15. He confessed, and then he proved he could pay for damages ...

by listing the house for nearly $10 million.

[Irish_Dem]

33. Even after he pays for damages, he still makes a profit.

[Auggie]

41. Yes, but replacing the trees will cost him. Aside from the those, there are also potential fines ...

and civil damages. His actions decreased the homeowners property value by removing the privacy screen. They can sue for that.

[Irish_Dem]

43. He probably has it figured out down to the penny.

How much more money he could make on his house with a clear ocean view.

And how much he will have to pay for the trees and the decease in value of the
damaged property.

Already has his attorney lined up and ready to make a deal.

This is how these people think.

[localroger]

47. Not necessarily. Trees ain't cheap.

Replacement cost for a tree of that class is minimum five, possibly six figures. For one tree. Asswipe cut fifty of 'em. The house with the improved view won't be worth the pigeon droppings sitting on its roof if it gets assessed for the damages.

[Irish_Dem]

48. But he is making $10 million on his house.

He can give the owner of the damaged property a million and he is still doing well.

[localroger]

58. A million won't begin to cover it.

An old tree that size will cost at least $50K to replace. Fifty trees. Most likely it will be more, a lot more, because that's base replacement cost for the actual tree, not the work, landscaping, transport, etc. none of which are cheap. I guarantee his view wasn't improved enough to even begin to cover it.

[Irish_Dem]

63. How does a financial guru make such a big blunder?

[PatrickforB]

76. Hubris. n/t

[VMA131Marine]

54. Damages could be as much as $5 million

At $100,000 per tree and treble damages.

He really didn’t think things through.

What is his defense going to be? He isn’t entitled to an ocean view!

[Irish_Dem]

62. He still pockets $5 million.

Of course you have to add in his attorney fees.

Maybe he thinks he can negotiate a good deal for himself.

[druidity33]

64. He might have a mortgage...

if he is asking for ten million, he might owe 8 mil. These guys aren't as slick as they always pretend to be.

[Irish_Dem]

65. Yes the numbers might not add up the way he hopes.

He thinks he can throw the damaged property owner a $1 million or less and walk away with $9 million.

But maybe she won't settle for that amount and will go to court.

And yes maybe he has a mortgage.

Even if he has an $8 million mortgage, and pays a $1 million to the neighbor, he still walks away with a $1 million.
I wouldn't sneeze at making $1 million on a house sale.

[druidity33]

67. If someone cared to look...

checking the Registry of Deeds would tell you how much he payed for the place.

[Irish_Dem]

70. Maybe he overpaid for the property and is desperate to turn a profit.

Or he is plain greedy.

[AllaN01Bear]

17. ""

!@#%^&^#$@#$%&*(((*

[defacto7]

18. It sounds like he already has a buyer

who he thinks will swoop in and buy him out quickly and he's stupid as hell ... or ...
he has lost his mind, has bucks far beyond the value of the house and holds a major grudge against his neighbor ... and he's just stupid as hell.

[Dr. T]

39. More money than brains.

That's one of my common observations. I've learned over and over again that financial success doesn't necessarily equate to high intelligence.

The Orange Ignoramus is a shining example.

[Grim Chieftain]

19. He might be ordered to pay or to have new trees planted

But you cannot replace trees that are nearly fifty years old - let alone sixteen trees. What an evil, self-entitled creep. I hope the whole community bands together to shun him.

[tinrobot]

22. Shun him? He's already put his house up for sale.

I say fine him $1M per tree.

[Grim Chieftain]

25. $1M per tree

I love it! Excellent idea.

[sheshe2]

34. I hope Mother Nature pays that weasel a visit.

[Grim Chieftain]

42. Hopefully while he's bent over gardening

[sheshe2]

44. It's not nice to fool mother nature.

[TNNurse]

23. Please let us know

He needs to suffer consequences

[NJCher]

24. some people around here do that

Because our town faces Manhattan and has fabulous views of the skyline. They have had to pay huge court judgments for it.

My place has a stunning skyline view from both my windows and also my pool, which is built into the side of a mountain. My neighbor two streets up has a room at the back of his house that he likes to look from, but my trees covered the view. He came to my house and asked if he paid for the tree trimming, would I mind? We had allowed him to do tree trimming of our trees once before, only the RG handled it. This time I did.

This neighbor wined and dined me, gave me gift cards for substantial amounts, and one night he invited me over to see the fabulous view the tree-trimming had allowed. BTW, he hired an expert tree trimmer who trimmed only a small amount, just what was necessary. The night he invited me over, he had put out quite a culinary spread and we talked for a few hours, finding out that we both patronized a particular Manhattan establishment at the same time decades ago. We just never met up with each other until the tree thing.

He's a very friendly, person. An author. He gave me a signed copy of his last book, which I very much enjoyed.

So it doesn't have to be this way, Mr. Jacoby.

[LisaM]

27. Yes, I have heard other instances of this.

John Olerud (former Seattle Mariner) cut down a neighbor's tree without permission, then there was that case where someone poisoned his neighbor's trees.

Among other things, trees prevent erosion, so it's more than just selfishness to behave this way.

It sounds as if your neighbor landed on the best solution.

[jfz9580m]

93. I would so much rather see trees

Than more fugly man made crap.

This is my deal-I tolerate a world of overpopulated noisy parking lots outside my home. I tolerate all these things that I disagree with outside.
You come into my home and mess around-the one place I go to for some peace of mind-you face criminal harassment charges.

Don’t build in my home and where you do or have, I don’t muck around with compensation and civil charges.

[riversedge]

26. Belford points out in her lawsuit that the ocean vistas were "conspicuously missing from the property's prior listings."

Belford points out in her lawsuit that the ocean vistas were "conspicuously missing from the property's prior listings."

[JoseBalow]

28. I bet I could bring his property value back down

[sinkingfeeling]

29. Lawsuit? My wasn't he arrested for malicious destruction of property and trespassing?

[sinkingfeeling]

32. My question is why this isn't a crime.

[TrollBuster9090]

30. About 30 years ago, somebody did EXACTLY THAT in my neighbourhood.

Except he didn't cut the trees down. He just cut a 2 inch thick strip of BARK from around each trunk, thus killing them without having to cut them down. They never proved who did it. They must have been in and out like a Ninja, in the night. And this was before the days of security cameras. (But they just would have worn a mask, anyway.)

The house that was blocked by the trees was already for sale by a realestate agent, and it sold for more than it otherwise would have, now that it had 'acquired' a panoramic view!

But the owner never got any compensation for that. It was outrageous!

I like the idea of a lawsuit! The judge should assess the value of the $10,000,000 house WITH and WITHOUT the view. And should award the difference to the plaintiff. If it sold for $10,000,000; and it was valued at $7,000,000 WITHOUT the view...it looks like that asshole owes his neighbour $3,000,000.

[DFW]

36. I hope the asshole is forced to forfeit his own property in its entirety

When he whines that the judgment is disproportional to his offense, the response could be that expecting the neighbor to wait fifty years for the trees to grow back is equally disproportional.

[slightlv]

37. This is the 2nd article I've read today where people walked onto

someone else's property and cut down their tree. The first one I read (crap... just went back into the news aggregator and it's fallen off the list, damn it!)... anyway, the guy had the neighbors 89 year old oak tree chopped down and then had the audacity of invoicing her for HALF of the cost of cutting it down!

I know MAGAs detest science, and especially abhor anything to do with climate change, etc.. but have they completely gone nuts about Nature, in general? Kill all the trees... whether or not they're on your property? Or do they just believe (like cats) that all their property is theirs, and all your properties are theirs, too? I'm really not sure at this point.

[SheltieLover]

53. Omg!

[Abolishinist]

56. This could be the one.

And it's 89" in circumference as well! Looks like this has been dragging on for over a year now.

https://www.reddit.com/r/treelaw/comments/1du308q/neighbor_had_no_idea_where_the_property_lines_are/

[Joinfortmill]

38. This is gonna cost him in dollars and prison time.

In MA: '...malicious destruction of property over $250 can result in up to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $3,000 or three times the value of the damaged property, whichever is greater.'

[VMA131Marine]

55. $100k per tree X 16 trees X treble damages

$4.8 Million

He is definitely going to need to sell the house.

[Luciferous]

45. What a jackass! I hope she wins all the

money he gets from selling that house.

[malaise]

46. His leader dug up the White House

Rose garden. That is all.

[lonely bird]

83. Yup

Fucking tasteless, no class asshole that he is.

[efhmc]

49. There is NO punishment harsh enough for this rotted soul. What's his name?

[efhmc]

51. Why is this person not in jail?

[IA8IT]

57. A buyer that knows the story and purchases is just as evil.

[fargone]

60. Could she put up a screen as tall as the trees?

[pansypoo53219]

61. 'the view' people SUCK. when my grandparents built a cottage on the 'family lake', she said trees, not lawn.

i am so glass she chose trees. some twit cut trees along the FRAGILE slope on lake michigan. luckily milw has a law to prevent bush/tree removal + he got charged.

[AllaN01Bear]

69. bah humbug

[FakeNoose]

72. The guy cuts down 16 trees, and it would have been better to just build another storey on his house

That's how he gets his "ocean view"! Not by cutting down someone else's healthy trees.
That's criminal. I hope he has good liability insurance, he's going to need it.

[eggplant]

73. The confusing headline...

It was 16 trees, each was almost 50 years old.

[Warpy]

74. I lived in coastan New England and I've seen cases like this before

and Jacoby is one stupid mofo for admitting guilt. It should be a pretty easy process to get a lien slapped on his property while a civil case grinds its way through the courts. In the meantime, Jacoby is going to be on the hook for a few annoying criminal charges plus maintaining a house on Nantucket, which is usually a very expensive proposition. It's an island, everything has to be brought in by boat or plane, and winters there are nobody's idea of a joke. Those "crappy trees" likely provided a necessary windbreak.

I'm hoping Belford is angry enough to force him to replace every single tree with another 50 year old tree. I've seen that one done.

You couldn't pay me to live on Nantucket year round, but the town is really pretty in the summer. The Nantucket Whaling Museum is worth a day trip all by itself if you're ever in the area.

[Nittersing]

75. I planted my honey locust 40 years ago

I would be heartbroken.

[markie]

78. Honey Locust are the best!

I planted mine about 25 years ago.... had a renter for a while and she somehow destroyed the tree; except it sprouted back up with 3 trunks and is a very nice tree these days...

*an aside... the largest Honey Locust I've seen is at the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park

https://www.nps.gov/saga/index.htm

[Ilsa]

77. I hope the wronged neighbor adds goats, chickens,

lots of barking dogs to her yard to impress any potential buyers. And play her stereo really loud. Keep a keg out in the backyard within view of Jacoby's house and throw a party every night. Be sure to have the guests drop their cups, cans, and used condoms (the 3 Cs) over the fence onto his place. I'd do all of that just over the frusttration of him killing trees.

If he didn't like the view from his house, he should not have bought it.

[Exp]

79. Apparently Mike Love of the BBs did the same thing in his Tahoe Incline Villge neighborhood. nt

[flvegan]

81. File the lawsuit, record a Lis Pendens.

He can sell the property when the case is decided, is settled or a judge lifts/discharges the Lis Pendens.

Happy selling with that on title, shithead (he literally can't unless there's a cash buyer that loves risk).

[paulrevere2018]

82. The house has been on the market for over a year and the price has dropped by 13%. He cut the

trees and then added "sweeping views of the ocean" to the most recent listing. I'll bet he was po'ed that the house was not selling and took this tactic to enhance the property. Hopefully he'll pay a steep price for this.

Reminds me of another entitled ahole in Maine who poisoned her neighbor's trees to enhance her view:

The Bonds have paid a price for their actions, which they acknowledged in the consent agreements.

They paid $4,500 to resolve Maine Board of Pesticides Control Board violations for unauthorized use of an herbicide that was applied inappropriately and not allowed for residential use, $180,000 to resolve violations with the town and another $30,000 for additional environmental testing, according to documents. They also paid more than $1.5 million to Gorman in a legal settlement, according to a memo from Jeremy Martin, the town’s planning and development director.

[louis-t]

85. No doubt a trmp voter.

[BobTheSubgenius]

87. I met a guy some years ago, who, together with his partner, took down a large Douglas FIr that they were sure....

....was on their property. Turns out, the property line ran right through the tree, and the neighbour wanted $5000 to settle. Guy was all ready to do that, but partner refused. BIG mistake. In court, the neighbour was awarded $55,000.

It turned out that an arborist (or some arborists, possibly) give an evaluation on how much it would cost to replace such a large, mature tree. It was hypothetical, because it would absolutely impossible to replace a tree of that age and size, but its growth was extrapolated from the cost of the largest tree of that type that one could find in a nursery, to however many years later the evaluation was done.

The FIL of a guy I worked with got off lucky, by comparison. He took down 5 trees that he had planted years and years ago, but were now encroaching on the house. Muni. fined him $7000 per tree. Turned out, the old adage was true. You really CAN'T fight city hall. Or at least, not often.

[efhmc]

91. What is happening now?

[Sogo]

92. I checked the date on this story, because I swear I heard the same thing a couple of years ago.

Same episode, different location, it seems.

I don't remember where the other location was....