MONSON, Maine — A local man pleaded guilty last week to four charges of timber theft in Piscataquis County District Court, according to the Maine Forest Service.
Jason Smith, 46, was charged after an investigation conducted by Maine Forest Rangers determined he did not pay an out-of-state landowner for four loads of wood that were part of a larger harvest conducted by Smith in Blanchard in 2014, according to the forest service.
Smith needed to pay $1,250 in fines plus restitution to the landowner for the wood harvested, according to a statement from the forest service.
“The landowner was suspicious that he might not be getting paid for all the wood harvested from his lot and called the Maine Forest Service’s Division of Forest Protection,” Ranger Jon Blackstone said in the statement. “Maine law requires that payment and a scale slip of the wood sold be given to the landowner within 45 days.”
In addition to the fines, Smith also was ordered by the court to provide the forest service with a weekly record of all the wood he harvests commercially for the next year.
