PRENTISS, Maine — A Lakeville man paid $250 in fines on Tuesday for illegally harvesting trees from land on Sam Rowe Ridge off Aurora Road in Prentiss last year, officials said.
Greg Rollins of Lakeville pleaded guilty in Lincoln District Court to unlawful cutting of trees and failure to notify of harvesting operations. He paid $200 on the former charge plus $50 on the latter, Maine Forest Service Lt. Peter Pelletier said.
The value of the amount of wood taken was not available Tuesday.
Landowner Chris Jones could only estimate that the area in which the wood was cut was 30 feet by 50 feet. Pelletier and Ranger Dustin Pickering, who is stationed in Lee, declined to comment further on the case.
The illegal-harvesting case is the second reported in the last two weeks. State police and Maine forest rangers served search warrants on four Medway locations on Friday as part of an investigation into about $20,000 worth of wood cut illegally from a Hartland wood lot.
Investigators say the wood hauled from Hartland went to close to a dozen mills statewide. He identified the logging company, but the Bangor Daily News is withholding the name because no one has been charged with a crime.
The Medway investigation is continuing, Pelletier said. Both cases are among several hundred illegal theft complaints the forest service investigates annually.
The number of complaints the forest service receives has risen every year for the last few years, Pelletier said.
“We are doing a better job of pursuing and following through with these cases and the general public is more aware of violations, so they are reporting more cases,” Pelletier said Tuesday.
Anyone wishing to report or discuss illegal wood theft may call the rangers at their Old Town regional headquarters at 827-1800 or call the rangers’ main state office in Augusta at 800-750-9777, Pelletier said.
Why can’t these “woodcutters” figure out what is private propertyand what may be cut,I think low IQs is the common denominator here. Just pull the cord,start the saw,and timberrrrrr,
worry about ownership if you get caught because there are no penalties,the Maine courts are in the dark ages with the low bails and the people they allow to run around pending trials.Most every article about an arrest lists violating bail conditions along with the new charges. NO bail,no new charges,sounds sensible to me. I guess being sensible is why it is ut the question after all never let common sense enter into the discussion.
You are right !!!
$250 doesn’t even cover the cost of the investigation. I think the court system should be like the turnpike authority, no tax dollars, just the fees you collect through your daily operations.
Was the landowner compensated?
You could fetch $250 off the wood from TWO trees easily.
$ 250 dollars. thats a big laugh! Think that will deter him from doing it again ?
I am the victim, Chris Jones. I was not awarded any monetary restitution or forfeiture. I was told I could seek a remedy for this in civil court. This, of course, spares the civil servants the costs and time of determining such while they are able to collect their fines for the offense.
On another front there is a clerical error; the area of the illegal cutting is closer to 50 yards by 30 yards , not 50 feet by 30 feet.
Nick is not one for accuracy.
Wish you the best of luck. Go get ’em!
Well, thank
you. This whole “adventure” may wind up In
Hollywood. Illegal logging, homeowner association illegalities, multiple arsons, fire marshall car torching, and a possible frame up of John Weckerly, and the clock is still ticking.
quote from Logger….”only good tree is a stump”
Am I, Chris Jones, a
three time martyr—twice arsoned and illegally logged since November 2010– or
just plain unlucky? All this “bad luck”
started subsequent to my complaining that the Sam Rowe Ridge Road Association
was carrying out business –including raising road fees—without required legal quorums.
An interesting coincidence: Both Greg Rollins and I are alleged arson
victims of loner John Weckerly, who allegedly set a State Fire Marshal’s
cruiser ablaze on August 3, 2011, as reported by BDN. But I, a Ph.D., am totally convinced that the
July 3, 2011 arson on my property had to be done by several individuals, not by
the loner, Weckerly, that I believe has been framed.
If you want/ have any pertinent information to share, E-mail
me at cjones1215@yahoo.com.
If I weren’t so civilized I would say “take the hint and move out of Lakeville”.
If I am a martyr–as you may be implying, I’m “staying in
the ring” to defend the next guy from being bullied. When evil is not confronted and addressed, it tends to grow and fester.
Also, it is always darkest before dawn.
By the way, it is Prentiss, not Lakeville, where my place is/er was. Greg Rollins comes from Lakeville.