Hollyweed Culprit Turns Himself In

After news of the Hollywood sign swept the globe and Los Angeles police began searching for the culprit, the Hollyweed artist decided to turn himself in. The 30 year old man turned himself in voluntarily to the Los Angeles police department along with his lawyer. The man, known as Zachary Cole Fernandez, has declared himself the culprit of having changed the Hollywood sign for Hollyweed. This hilarious change caused ripples all over the world, appearing on almost every news channel as well as going completely viral.

The man’s ex-wife, Sarah Fern, also admitted to having been involved, but all she actually did was organize it. She helped Zachary get the correct measurements for the letters, making sure that the blankets were the perfect size to cover them.
Zachary states that he got the idea from Instagram, when he saw a picture taken in the 70s of the Hollywood sign that had been changed to Hollyweed, and he didn’t believe that it was real. He investigated and discovered that the culprit was a fine arts student, Danny Finnegood, who changed the sign on January 1^st, 1976. 41 years ago consuming cannabis in California was illegal, so when laws were modified to reduce punishment, Danny decided to change the sign and hand it in as an academic project. He got a 10 in his project as well as becoming world-famous.

The main idea behind this was to create mayhem and have people talk about it, although Zachary also wrote on one of the blankets “a tribute to Mr. Finnegood”.

Zachary prepared everything and was rewarded with a rainy day, making it harder for him to be detected. On the security cameras you can see a figure in black going towards the famous letters, although the culprit states that he was wearing camo. The letters are more than 13m tall, mounted on a 15m tall structure, and the stairs don’t begin until 6m up the letters.

Once he got there, he had to climb until he reached the steps. When he got on top of the letters, he threw a rope on the first O to lower and place the blankets, using clamps to help with the process and making sure to not damage the letters. Once he had placed the first E, he had to go down and up again to be able to do the same process to the O. The whole process took him longer than 2 hours.

Due to the fact that the sign was modified by blankets and not harmed in any way, he wasn’t accused of vandalism. They did, however, accuse him of invading private property. He was released on bail for 1000$ and his court date was set for February 15th.

Zachary confirms that he has more plans for the future; he has 4 kids and he wants to give them a better future to look forward to. He declares himself an activist in favor of marijuana, and he thinks that the media have exaggerated the issue an awful lot by using the word “vandalism” to describe his work.

Translation: Ciara Murphy