BANGOR, Maine — The jury trial of a Medway couple and their business ended abruptly last week after three days of testimony when a deal was struck with the Penobscot County district attorney’s office.
Jay R. McLaughlin, 57, Ellen McLaughlin, 56, and their firm, McLaughlin’s Timber Trucking Inc., were indicted nearly two years ago on two counts each of theft by unauthorized taking and theft by deception and 149 counts each of forgery. Their trial on those charges began Feb. 29 at the Penobscot Judicial Center.
In 2013, the McLaughlins underpaid the owners of a Hartland woodlot by $11,000, then sold the wood for $51,000 more than it was worth by saying it was cedar, Almy said in his opening statement. The couple also allegedly forged statements to the woodlot owners about how much they had cut and what it had been sold for.
All but one of the charges against the McLaughlins were dismissed March 2 after the company pleaded no contest to one Class B theft count and agreed to pay a fine of $15,000. Other charges against the firm also were dropped, according to court documents.
In a separate case, Jay McLaughlin pleaded no contest to a Class B theft charge, according to court documents. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison with all but 30 days suspended and one year of probation.
Jay McLaughlin also was ordered to pay a fine of $5,000 and restitution of $12,800, according to court documents. He is to serve his sentence in April.
In that case, he allegedly tried to defraud BOL Wood Services of Lincoln and Sappi Paper of Hinckley of about $13,000 by falsifying trip logs to show that he was hauling it from Oakfield to Hinckley when he really was hauling it from Seboeis, Almy said last year.
The prosecutor said last week it was in the best interest of justice to settle the cases at the same time rather than have two separate trials.
Attorney Charles Cox of Millinocket, who represented the McLaughlins and the firm at last week’s trial, said Monday that his client “decided to take a sure thing” rather than risk multiple convictions due to a jury verdict.
Cox said the case was not thoroughly investigated by the Maine Forest Service.
“They looked at the paperwork but they didn’t talk to the people involved [at the mills that accepted the wood], he said.
Walter McKee of Augusta, who represented Jay McLaughlin in the separate theft case, said Thursday in an email that “Jay wants to put this all behind him once and for all. Though defenses would have been raised had there been a trial, his no contest plea here, along with the dismissals in his other case, closes everything out.”
The most serious charges of Class B theft carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000.