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NEWS
LaSalle Parish Man Arrested on Two More Counts of Timber Theft
October 31, 2014
Baton Rouge, La. (October 31, 2014) – An investigation by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) has resulted in additional felony timber theft charges for a Jena man.
Thirty-nine year old James Marcus Ainsworth of 254 Joiner Road was arrested Thursday morning by forestry agents and booked into the Catahoula Parish jail on two counts of felony timber theft totaling nearly $29,000.
Investigators say two complaints were filed by two Catahoula Parish landowners. The first complaint was made by an Aimwell couple who was promised $10,000 for timber on their 20 acres but only received $1,900. The second complaint was made by a Sicily Island man who was initially promised $60,000 on his 120 acres and only received $3,089. The timber on both tracts was cut from January through March 2014.
LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said, “Our investigators found that Ainsworth cut the timber with the landowner’s permission and that he was paid promptly for the timber. No scale tickets, settlement sheets or loader’s log were ever received by the landowners as required under state law. They simply received a check for a fraction of what they were promised.”
Ainsworth was originally arrested in September by forestry agents and booked into the LaSalle Parish jail on one count of felony timber theft of more than $10,400. Ainsworth was arrested again by forestry investigators on October 2 in LaSalle Parish for an additional count of felony timber theft of more than $28,000.
Anyone who may have done business with Ainsworth is asked to contact the LDAF office at (225) 925-4500.
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