Replacement Tree, Toys Defeat the Grinch

An Inglewood family whose front-yard Christmas tree was chopped down this week by a thief received a replacement tree Friday--along with some early Christmas gifts to distribute to children in their neighborhood.

An anonymous donor planted a 7-foot pine in Ricardo Hernandez’s yard while Jeramie Dreyfuss, wife of actor Richard Dreyfuss, delivered a carload of gifts, valued at just under $1,000, for neighborhood children devastated by the theft.

Toys were delivered to Hernandez’s three girls and to the impoverished family that purchased Hernandez’s stolen tree for $7, as well as to three neighbor boys pictured in Thursday’s editions of The Times as they sat on the stump of the stolen tree.

Hernandez had followed a trail of pine needles to discover that his purloined Monterey pine had ended up at the home of an elderly man who was caring for six small children. Hernandez decided to let them keep his fully decorated tree.

Linda Kalaydjian of the Inglewood Police Department said numerous other offers of replacement trees were made Friday. She said the TreePeople conservation group has offered to conduct an ecology program for neighborhood youngsters.