Stolen trellis reinstalled in McKinley Park rose garden

A sculptured wrought iron trellis stolen last month from the McKinley Park rose garden has been reinstalled in its original spot.

The trellis disappeared from the East Sacramento park early in the morning of April 30 and was recovered after it turned up in a photo on the thief’s Facebook page. Richard Hengeveld, 53, admitted to stealing the trellis and transporting it to his niece’s wedding in the Natomas area. He pleaded no contest to the theft May 16 and was sentenced to one year in county jail.

“The cost was more than $2,000 to recover, transport, repair and reinstall the 12-foot-tall structure weighing more than 600 pounds,” Cecily Hastings, co-founder of Friends of East Sacramento, said in a written statement Thursday.

Friends of East Sacramento leases the garden from the city of Sacramento, maintains it and manages it for events. The nonprofit organization raises funds each year to cover maintenance costs of the garden and support more than 100 volunteers who work in the garden each week, according to a news release.

Hastings said the organization is grateful to the person who anonymously tipped Friends of East Sacramento to the whereabouts of the missing trellis, allowing for its recovery.

Although the trellis is back in place, its removal damaged the garden.

“The very long canes of the climbing roses that graced this structure for more than a decade were severely damaged when the thieves stole it in the middle of the night,” Hastings said. “But we hope with time and attentive care by our volunteers that they will live again to re-bloom next spring.”

In addition to his jail time, Hengeveld is to make restitution to Friends of East Sacramento.

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Stolen trellis reinstalled in McKinley Park rose garden."