A Little Compton man who once maintained a wooded and plant-filled center median at Main Street and Crandall Road in Adamsville has been charged with vandalism, after police allege he took a chainsaw to the median’s vegetation in protest of what he believed was an earlier, overzealous pruning effort by volunteers.

The vandalism was first noticed Sunday, July 23 when police got a call from Little Compton resident Jack Crook, who maintains the median as part of the state DOT’s Adopt A Spot program. He said he drove by the median around 7:40 a.m. that day and everything looked fine. A few hours later, when he drove by again, he noticed that two mature holly trees, a juniper tree, two azaleas and two hydrangeas “had been destroyed.”

Crook told police he believed the culprit was Dana Moniz, 65, of 93 Amesbury Lane, who he had heard was upset that the hollies had earlier been trimmed because they were impeding traffic and obscuring a stop sign.

Witnesses told police they saw Moniz park his black Volkswagen Passat near the median at about 8:30 a.m., walk over to the median with a chainsaw, and start cutting.

Police went to Moniz’s home soon after, told him that his car had been spotted at the median around the time of the vandalism, and asked him if he had cut the trees. He said no.

“Moniz said he wouldn’t damage someone else’s property, but he would damage his own,” officer Caitlin M. Silveira wrote in a report.

“I asked Moniz if he was upset about the holly trees being cut back and he said yes, that he planted those holly trees and all of the other plants in the median when he helped maintain it.”

Police asked again if he’d cut the plants and trees because he was upset:

“He said ‘I wouldn’t cut anyone else’s property, but I would cut my own.’”

Moniz asked what the charge would be if he had done it, and police advised him that the charge would be misdemeanor vandalism.

“He asked, ‘What am I going to have to pay for this?’”

Police advised him that he would most likely have to pay to replace the plants and trees:

“Of my own,” he replied.

“I said, ‘they aren’t your plants, they are state property,’” Silveira reported replying.

“After I planted them there,” Moniz replied.

Police later contacted Pamela Huizenga, who owns Simmons Market and Cafe adjacent to the median, and asked if she had surveillance cameras that could be accessed. She said she did, sent a clip, and later had two employees contact police. They said they saw a man wearing the same clothing as Moniz cutting a tree that day, then getting into a black Passat.

Police later got a $3,866 estimate for damages and repairs, wrote an arrest warrant and arrested Moniz at his home on Tuesday, July 28. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Second Division District Court on Friday, August 7.