A PRANKSTER who altered the iconic “Hollywood” sign in Los Angeles to make it read “Hollyweed” has surrendered to police and been charged with trespassing, a city official said.

    Zachary Cole Fernandez, 30, who earlier this month told Vice Media about scaling the sign to alter it, turned himself in Monday with his attorney at his side, Los Angeles City Councilman David Ryu’s office said in a statement.

    Fernandez was booked for trespassing, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail, and released with a promise to appear in court Feb. 15, according to Ryu’s office and jail records. Ryu’s office noted Fernandez did not damage the sign.

    On New Year’s Day, residents of Hollywood Hills awoke to find “Hollyweed” staring down at them in four-story, white letters from Los Angeles’ Mount Lee, where a version of the frequently photographed “Hollywood” sign was first erected in 1923.

    Ryu said such pranks “deplete the resources of our valuable public safety personnel, in both responding to the prank and in responding to the increased crowds and copycat attempts that these incidents generate.”

    “While the Hollywood Sign is an internationally recognized icon, it is located in a large urban wilderness park next to thousands of residential homes,” he added.

    The change is the ultimate throwback to 1976, when activists used the four-story letters as a political play on words, CBS News correspondent Mireya Villarreal reported. Danny Finegood and a team of friends made the identical change to the Hollywood sign on New Year’s Day 41 years ago.

    Fernandez, who used tarps to alter the letters, told People magazine Monday that he changed the sign to spread a message of “peace and love.”

    “It wasn’t a prank, it was a message,” Finegood’s wife, Bonnie, said. “I did support his ideas. I loved his creativity,” Bonnie said.

    It came less than two months after California voters approved recreational use of marijuana in the state, despite a federal ban on the drug. “Whether they’re liberal or conservative, I think everyone saw humor” in the sign change, Fernandez told People.

    (SD-Agencies)