A man dubbed the Brighton “Tree Ninja” is behind bars after he repeatedly was caught on surveillance cameras damaging his neighbors’ trees, police said.

Joseph Rizza, 66, finally barked up the wrong tree shortly before 8 p.m. Monday, when detectives caught him entering the gate outside a Peaceable Street home a few doors from where he lives and snapping a branch off a tree with his hands, according to court records.

“Everybody in the whole neighborhood is fed up,” said Michael Costello, chairman of the board of directors at the Washington Street Elks Lodge, pointing to a tree that looked as though it had been gnawed by a beaver in the lodge’s parking lot. “People plant trees, and he cuts them down.”

Yesterday, Rizza — referred to as the “Tree Ninja” on the Boston police website — pleaded not guilty to charges of trespassing and malicious destruction of property in Brighton District Court, where he is already facing trial this month in connection with a spate of previous tree attacks. Judge David Donnelly revoked his bail for those cases and ordered him to be held pending a Jan. 13 hearing.

Rizza could not be reached for comment and his lawyer did not return a call seeking comment yesterday.

Court records show Rizza faces charges stemming from a total of 11 tree attacks over the last year, all within a stone’s throw of his home.

When detectives saw him hacking at a tree last April 15, he told them, “You got me,” and they arrested him, according to court records.

After a hole was drilled into a neighbor’s tree on Peaceable Street, she tried to protect it by wrapping wooden slats around its trunk, said Harry Nesdekidis, who owns a home and auto body shop across the street. But last night, a few of the slats were missing, and holes riddled the trunk.