Rich CEO Caught Poisoning Neighbor's Trees Next to $3.5 Million Mansion to 'Improve View'

A NEW criminal investigation has been launched against a wealthy CEO who was caught poisoning his neighbor’s trees to improve the view outside his $3.5 million mansion.

In 2022, Amelia Bond sprayed four pounds of Tebuthiuron, a deadly herbicide, on trees owned by Lisa Gorman, offering to pay to have them removed when they began to die.

CEO Amelia Bond could face criminal charges nearly two years after spreading poison on her neighbor’s treesCredit: Linkedin

Bond wanted to create a better view for his $3.5 million mansion in Camden, MaineCredit: AP

She was forced to pay $1.5 million in compensation for Lisa Gorman (left)Credit: Getty

After his scheme was exposed, Bond was ordered to pay Gorman $1.5 million in compensation, but Maine’s attorney general is now considering criminal charges after the poison spread in a park and a beach nearby.

“Anyone stupid enough to poison the trees, right following to the ocean should be prosecuted, as far as I’m concerned,” resident Paul Hodgson told the Associated Press.

Bond, who was the former CEO of the St. Louis Foundation, which manages charitable giving and has more than $500 million in assets, brought the herbicide from Missouri in 2021.

She applied the poison to oak trees on a riverfront property owned by Lisa Gorman, the wife of the late Leon Gorman, president of LL Bean, officials said.

Gorman became suspicious when trees and large areas of vegetation in her yard began to die.

She contacted Bartlett Tree Experts for an assessment and landscapers took soil samples which revealed two oak trees had been treated with a herbicide that spread to other trees.

Local authorities also carried out tests in November 2022 and spoke to Bond, whose holiday home is located up the hill from Gorman’s lawn.

Bond admitted to using the poison, saying Gorman’s trees obscured his view of Laite Beach and Camden Harbor.

She and her husband, Arthur Bond III, an architect, reported $4,500 to resolve violations with the Maine Board of Pesticides Control Board, and $180,000 to resolve violations with the city.

The couple also had to pay $30,000 for additional environmental testing and paid Gorman $1.5 million as part of a settlement.

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‘ATROCIOUS’

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced an investigation following growing anger in the small town.

“Wealth and power do not always go hand in hand with intelligence, education and morality,” said Select Board Chairman Tom Hedstrom.

“It was atrocious and disgusting, and that’s any other word you want to use to describe abhorrent behavior.”

State Rep. Vicki Doudera said she plans to remedy the $4,500 fine that the Maine Pesticide Control Board was authorized to impose.

“It makes me so livid,” she said. “This situation, as soon as I heard about it, I said to myself: ‘Wow! These people are going to get a slap on the wrist. It’s just not right.”

Tebuthiuron was used in 2010 by an angry Alabama soccer fan to kill the Toomer’s Corner Oaks at Auburn University after the Crimson Tide lost to their arch rivals.

Harvey Updyke admitted to poisoning the trees and was imprisoned for the act.

What were the charges against the Bonds?

Amelia Bond used pesticides to kill vegetation around her neighbor Lisa Gorman’s home in 2022. Since then, the Bonds have been fined $1.5 million.

They face a fine ranging from $100 to $2,500 for each day of violation of riparian zoning.
The National Pesticide Control Board fined them $4,500 for unauthorized use of a pesticide, use of a pesticide in a reckless, negligent or defective manner, and violation of pesticide labeling and product restrictions. use of labels.
They were penalized for violating the city’s zoning ordinance $1,000 per day per violation, for 90 days, for a total of $180,000.
They also had to pay for soil testing at Laite Memorial Beach and the estimated cost was $30,700.

In addition to the fines, the Bonds paid Gorman $1.5 million as part of the settlement.

The Bonds’ attorney told The Associated Press that his clients “continue to take the allegations against them seriously.”

“They continue to cooperate with the town of Camden, Maine, and the Gormans, as they have for the past two years,” he said.

However, Hodgson said the Bonds were just some of the legal aliens who attempted to illegally improve their sea views.

“They just pay the fine because they have a lot of money,” he said.

“This is the city we live in.”