A Whidbey real estate agent is facing charges for allegedly cutting down trees on private property to improve the view for a home he was trying to sell, according to court documents.
Prosecutors charged Bert W. Bennehoff of Clinton in Island County Superior Court Sept. 26 with malicious mischief in the first and second degree.
Bennehoff declined to comment on the charges Thursday.
Two different reports from the Island County Sheriff’s Office detail a long and complicated story involving many different people.
On Aug. 19, 2022, a deputy was contacted by a Susana Drive property owner, who said she noticed rings had been cut into multiple alder trees on her land. Also called girdling, cutting rings in the bark around trees kills them. She sent photos to the deputy but did not respond when asked for more information.
Nearly a year later, she reached out to law enforcement again on July 11, 2023 to say that she had additional information, according to a separate report from a lieutenant with the sheriff’s office. She stated that 34 old-growth alder trees were double ringed in August 2022, and four old growth maple trees were cut down in September 2022.
She claimed the damage to the trees caused instability on a slope, the loss of wildlife habitat and degradation of an already-fragile road. The property owner added that there is an existing slide problem on the road, and it is classified with the county as unstable terrain, according to the report.
“I bought the property as a wildlife, nature sanctuary,” she wrote. “Quiet with lots of trees. Every tree except one has been damaged or cut. The property has now lost its charm.”
Several neighbors of the affected property provided statements in the report that pointed back to Bennehoff of Whidbey Buyers Realty, according to the report. When asked, workers at the site replied that they were hired by Bennehoff because he wanted to restore the view for a lot on Shippin Lane that he was contacted to sell for a client.
The Whidbey Island Land and Shore Trust also had property that was impacted. The lieutenant wrote in his report that he visited the two properties to determine the value of the trees that had been cut or girdled. For the trust’s property, the value was estimated at $2,919 for 10 trees. For the other property owner with more damage, the total was $8,565 for 28 trees.
Bennehoff told the lieutenant that prior to any activity happening on the land, he pulled the vesting deeds and did not see any of the parcels owned by the alleged victim. He said the community has protective covenants that allow the removal of vegetation which obstructs westward views of property owners.
“Nowhere in the covenants that I have been provided did it give authority for someone other than the owners of the properties to maintain the height of the trees on their respective properties,” the lieutenant wrote.
