Timber Theft Information

[two_bit_score]

March 7, 2021 – Troy Grice of Groveton, Texas, was indicted on February 25, 2021, by a grand jury in Jasper County on the charge of Timber Purchase as Trustee with Intent to Defraud. Grice is charged with defrauding a Jasper County landowner of between $20,000 and $100,000 worth of timber – a felony of the third degree.

Timber theft can take a variety of forms – from harvesting timber without the landowner’s knowledge or consent, to entering into a formal agreement, harvesting a landowners timber, and then not paying them the full purchase price.
“The past few years we have seen an increase in Timber Fraud cases. Most of these cases started off with a legitimate contract, but then the landowner only receives partial payment, or no payment at all,” said Josh Mizrany, Investigator with Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement Department.

Grice, 49, entered into a timber harvesting agreement through his company Apex Timber with a Jasper county landowner in January of 2019 to harvest 314 acres of their timber. The harvest was halted by the landowner in April of 2019, after delinquent payments started occurring, and the landowner reached out to Texas A&M Forest Service law enforcement for help.

Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement are subject matter experts on the Texas Natural Resource Code, which is designed to protect landowners.

“The Texas Natural Resource Code has a section which states that money collected from timber is trust money,” said Mizrany. “And if the trustee of that money doesn’t pay all of the beneficiaries for the timber within 45 days of the timber being sold, that person has committed the offense of timber fraud.”

Once the Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement Department was notified of the unpaid balance, they began investigating the case. Through their investigation, Texas A&M Forest Service was able to verify that Grice had not paid all of the trust money owed to the landowner.

Grice was arrested under warrant on March 5, 2020, in Trinity County. The case was turned in to District Attorney Anne Pickle, who brought the case before a grand jury. After hearing testimonies, the grand jury decided that there was probable cause for Grice to be charged with a felony of the third degree.

Meanwhile, Mizrany can’t stress enough the importance of involving Texas A&M Forest Service in any case of suspected timber fraud or timber theft.
“If you go into an agreement with a timber harvesting company and payment has stopped, or you’re not receiving all of the revenue that you’re owed—that they’ve contractually agreed to—it’s important to notify the Texas A&M Forest Service law enforcement department right away,” said Mizrany.

If you are unfamiliar with selling timber, you are urged to contact your local Texas A&M Forest Service office. Our field staff will assist you with securing the assistance of a professional resource manager to help select trees for harvest, estimate values and find potential buyers.
For more information, visit Wildfires and Disasters | TIMBER THEFT, REPORT IT AND HELP PREVENT IT! TFS
Or to report suspected timber theft activities, call the timber theft hotline at 1-800-364-3470.

Arrest made in Cherokee County timber theft investigation

The Texas A&M Forest Service said a Groveton man was arrested in connection to a timber theft investigation in Cherokee County.

www.kltv.com

 

[MossRoad]

Thieves come in all trades. Grrrrr....

 

[MoKelly]

March 7, 2021 – Troy Grice of Groveton, Texas, was indicted on February 25, 2021, by a grand jury in Jasper County on the charge of Timber Purchase as Trustee with Intent to Defraud. Grice is charged with defrauding a Jasper County landowner of between $20,000 and $100,000 worth of timber – a felony of the third degree.

Timber theft can take a variety of forms – from harvesting timber without the landowner’s knowledge or consent, to entering into a formal agreement, harvesting a landowners timber, and then not paying them the full purchase price.
“The past few years we have seen an increase in Timber Fraud cases. Most of these cases started off with a legitimate contract, but then the landowner only receives partial payment, or no payment at all,” said Josh Mizrany, Investigator with Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement Department.

Grice, 49, entered into a timber harvesting agreement through his company Apex Timber with a Jasper county landowner in January of 2019 to harvest 314 acres of their timber. The harvest was halted by the landowner in April of 2019, after delinquent payments started occurring, and the landowner reached out to Texas A&M Forest Service law enforcement for help.

Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement are subject matter experts on the Texas Natural Resource Code, which is designed to protect landowners.

“The Texas Natural Resource Code has a section which states that money collected from timber is trust money,” said Mizrany. “And if the trustee of that money doesn’t pay all of the beneficiaries for the timber within 45 days of the timber being sold, that person has committed the offense of timber fraud.”

Once the Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement Department was notified of the unpaid balance, they began investigating the case. Through their investigation, Texas A&M Forest Service was able to verify that Grice had not paid all of the trust money owed to the landowner.

Grice was arrested under warrant on March 5, 2020, in Trinity County. The case was turned in to District Attorney Anne Pickle, who brought the case before a grand jury. After hearing testimonies, the grand jury decided that there was probable cause for Grice to be charged with a felony of the third degree.

Meanwhile, Mizrany can’t stress enough the importance of involving Texas A&M Forest Service in any case of suspected timber fraud or timber theft.
“If you go into an agreement with a timber harvesting company and payment has stopped, or you’re not receiving all of the revenue that you’re owed—that they’ve contractually agreed to—it’s important to notify the Texas A&M Forest Service law enforcement department right away,” said Mizrany.

If you are unfamiliar with selling timber, you are urged to contact your local Texas A&M Forest Service office. Our field staff will assist you with securing the assistance of a professional resource manager to help select trees for harvest, estimate values and find potential buyers.
For more information, visit Wildfires and Disasters | TIMBER THEFT, REPORT IT AND HELP PREVENT IT! TFS
Or to report suspected timber theft activities, call the timber theft hotline at 1-800-364-3470.

Arrest made in Cherokee County timber theft investigation

The Texas A&M Forest Service said a Groveton man was arrested in connection to a timber theft investigation in Cherokee County.

www.kltv.com

This is very interesting. So a public university in Texas has a law enforcement operation off campus and for the entire state? Never heard of such an arrangement.

Im surprised at some point A&M didn’t go arrest all the Longhorn folks!!!

MoKelly

 

[MossRoad]

Pretty interesting system

Wildfires and Disasters | Law Enforcement

The Law Enforcement Department’s primary role is to: provide investigations of wildfires to determine the cause; investigate wildland arson fires; and provide training to Agency personnel, fire departments and other law enforcement agencies regarding fire and natural resource related crimes. The...

tfsweb.tamu.edu

 

[Industrial Toys]

Getting ripped off by the Forestry Cutting Industry has been a pretty much established fact around here as long as I can remember.

My Dad once made the acquaintence of such people, back in the 70s, who also sidelined in ARSON! I attended the trial. They were never convicted in our local case due to lack of evidence. INTERPOL was investigating them as well!

 

[Jstpssng]

This is very interesting. So a public university in Texas has a law enforcement operation off campus and for the entire state? Never heard of such an arrangement.

Im surprised at some point A&M didn’t go arrest all the Longhorn folks!!!

MoKelly

That does seem to be a unique arrangement. They seem to be involved in a lot of things besides teaching...

The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation with a budget of $6.3 billion. The System is a statewide network of 11 universities; a comprehensive health science center; eight state agencies, including the Texas Division of Emergency Management; and the RELLIS Campus. The Texas A&M System educates more than 151,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $1 billion in FY 2019 and helped drive the state’s economy.

About - SYSTEM OFFICES

www.tamus.edu

 

[sea2summit]

Thieves come in all trades. Grrrrr....

Had someone come on my posted property and cut down a 40’ cedar tree and took the top ~5’. Maybe for a Christmas tree? Couldn’t believe it. Tree was close to the road, can’t see it from the house but they probably could see my house from it when they were cutting. Only have 10-15 good cedar trees on the 30 acres. Was more than a little upset.

 

[two_bit_score]

Had someone come on my posted property and cut down a 40’ cedar tree and took the top ~5’. Maybe for a Christmas tree? Couldn’t believe it. Tree was close to the road, can’t see it from the house but they probably could see my house from it when they were cutting. Only have 10-15 good cedar trees on the 30 acres. Was more than a little upset.

I would expect you would be.

 

[Jstpssng]

Had someone come on my posted property and cut down a 40’ cedar tree and took the top ~5’. Maybe for a Christmas tree? Couldn’t believe it. Tree was close to the road, can’t see it from the house but they probably could see my house from it when they were cutting. Only have 10-15 good cedar trees on the 30 acres. Was more than a little upset.

We see stuff like that all of the time, but it's a different economy of scale. I've even had people say that "We like to steal white birch off your land because the tourists like it for firewood."

 

[Thomas]

We have those types around here also,state towns talk BIG story about coming down hard on thieves but end up giving them slap on the wrist.