LOWELL, Mich. (WOOD) — A serial tree thief pleaded no contest this week to taking down other people’s trees in the city of Lowell last year.

Dallas Mitchell Anderson, 57, took a lesser charge in front of a Kent County judge Tuesday for the malicious destruction of property worth less than $200, which is a misdemeanor that carries up to 93 days behind bars.

“I Googled Dallas, and it came up with the exact same story on him doing the same thing in a different area,” Sgt. Gordy Lauren with the Lowell Police Department said.

Anderson was accused of running a similar scheme back in 2016 in the Allegan, Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties.

“He would go purchase a tree off of somebody’s property and then it would turn out that it wasn’t on the property of the person who signed the contract,” Lauren said. “Then it turns into a civil issue. He did that to several people in those areas, as he did here.”

Anderson has been on parole since July of 2023 following offenses not related to these crimes. But since he’s been out, Lauren said he has targeted upwards of a dozen Lowell homeowners who happen to have valuable black walnut trees growing on their properties.

“Walnut trees are premium wood. So, when he would find a walnut tree, he’d convince the person to sell it to him,” he said. If the person wouldn’t sell the tree, Lauren said he’d convince the next-door neighbor that the tree was actually on their property and have them sign a contract.

“The tree is literally in a fenced-in yard and they went to the neighbors and cut it down. They put a bucket truck on the property and went onto the property and cut it down,” Lauren said.

In some cases, black walnut lumber can be valued at around $5,000. Lauren said Anderson was purchasing the trees for a couple of hundred bucks.

“There’s a lot of red oak in Michigan, lots of maple in Michigan, less amounts of walnut so, it’s definitely more for the high-end customer,” Todd Atwood, co-founder of Atwood Forest Products, said. “It’s way more attractive. It’s different structure than the normal.”

The Lowell Police Department expects to hand over several similar cases against Anderson to the Kent County prosecutor soon. Those cases will likely go before a judge early next year.