A 53-year-old Los Angeles man entered a no contest plea on Feb. 21 for vandalizing Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame prior to the presidential election, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.

Defendant James Lambert Otis used a sledgehammer and pickax to damage the star last October.
(photo by Edwin Folven)

Deputy District Attorney Sandra Peña said defendant James Lambert Otis entered the plea to one felony count of vandalism. Otis was immediately sentenced to three years of formal probation and 20 days of Caltrans work, and ordered to pay $3,700 to the Hollywood Historic Trust and $700 to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which oversee the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The defendant damaged the star on Oct. 26 with a pickax and sledgehammer. Otis also removed a brass medallion from the middle of the star, the prosecutor said.

The case was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollywood Division.