Retired Navy SEAL pays $1,000 fine after two felony charges over tree removal are dropped

A retired US Navy SEAL commander who faced two felony charges for removing a tree along a shared property boundary in New Hampshire has paid a $1,000 fine after both charges were dropped. Michael Hayes, 55, pleaded guilty to a non-criminal trespassing violation in a court hearing on October 23.According to AOL.com, the case began after Hayes removed a hemlock tree standing along the boundary between his lakefront property and a neighbouring property owned by Stacey Nath-Vinick and Michael Vinick.

The neighbours had valued the removed tree and a nearby stump at $11,259, according to a report by the Valley News.A Sullivan County grand jury indicted Hayes on May 27 on charges of criminal mischief and timber-harvesting trespass. Both offences carried possible prison sentences of up to seven years.

However, prosecutors agreed to drop the two felony charges during the October hearing.Hayes accepted a lesser trespassing violation and paid the $1,000 fine at the court clerk's office before leaving. Judge James Kennedy presided over the hearing at Sullivan Superior Court in Newport.