Illegal logging concern rises with timber value

"Those kinds of stories reflect very poorly on us and create distrust in the marketplace," he said. "We don't even call them loggers — basically they're just thieves."

A common timber thief is an experienced logger with a small crew, said Jonathan Callore, assistant law enforcement chief of the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

South Carolina's tree theft law — which poses hard jail time and stiff penalties — is considered model legislation by many in the industry.

To Cain, a western Kentucky sheriff who supports Riley's group, timber theft is no different than other crimes, though he's had trouble in his own Daviess County with getting timber theft cases sent to criminal court. He said the same local prosecutors who vigilantly try other felonies are reluctant to get involved in timber cases.

That's because they anticipate questions about property boundaries and few people have the money or the resources to hire a lawyer, pay thousands of dollars for a survey or hire an expert to place a value on the timber lost.

Timber thieves manipulate these obstacles, experts say.

They usually operate along adjoining property lines and claim to have either owner's permission to log on the property in question, according to the New York Forest Owners Association.

If either landowner is absent, a timber thief can spot a group of oaks, chop them down and exit the property without anyone knowing for weeks.

Caught in the act, a logger may offer money — typically a fraction of the actual market value. Accept the money and the logger may continue to hack away at your property, claiming you've been paid for the timber.

"They're in the logging business," Callore said. "They'll go into the courthouse and find out who has a local address and who has an absentee address, and go and cut on the property."

Potter suspects she was targeted the same way.

A couple of years ago, she decided to move in with her grown children in Ohio with her husband, who is diabetic and blind. She only visits her 25-acre property a few times a year.

If it hadn't been for her nephew, Mark Combs, who lives on the adjacent property, she may not have known for months that her oaks were taken down.

Combs confronted a local logger one November day after hearing the unusual sound of a chain saw on his aunt's property.

The case is slated for a grand jury next month, though it still brings Potter little satisfaction.

"Thirty-two oak trees that have been there for years," said Potter. "It was my turn to give them to my son and daughter, but you can't replace those."

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