Trump Park Sign Stolen, Man Arrested

YORKTOWN, NY — One of the entrance signs to the Donald J. Trump Park in Yorktown was vandalized and stolen March 22. Now state park police have accused a Putnam County man of the crime.

Surveillance video is what led them to Ronald Atzmon, 32, of Carmel. He faces charges of third-degree criminal mischief, a felony, and petty larceny, a misdemeanor.

State park police had installed the cameras near the entrance to the Indian Hill section of the undeveloped park, according to TapInto Yorktown. The sign has been replaced.

President Trump donated 436 acres of land in Yorktown and Putnam Valley to the state in 2006 after he was unable to build a golf course there. The donation of the land, which Trump bought for $2 million and valued at $100 million, was announced at an event which The Journal News said included a catering tent, bottles of Trump Ice-brand water and a TV crew.

It is split in half by the Taconic State Parkway.

The land never became a park, but it got named as if it had, with signs for Donald J. Trump State Park along the Taconic and at entrances. Prominent signage was, in fact, a condition of the gift.

At one point the billionaire threatened to sue to get the land back because the state wasn’t using it as a park (he hadn’t given any money for its upkeep and it was a victim of budget cuts during the Great Recession) but that went nowhere.

When he became a serious candidate for president, the big green sign along the parkway began to irritate some and roused others to defense.

The actual entrance signs to the park have been vandalized several times, according to TapInto Yorktown.

PHOTO: Ronald Atzmon via New York state parks police