Department of Agriculture and Forestry, State of Louisiana - Mike Strain DVM, Commissioner

A man from Picayune, Mississippi is accused of not paying three different landowners for timber investigators say he cut near Mount Hermon, La.

Sixty-year-old Donald Ray Berry was arrested in Bogalusa, La. Monday, Feb. 17 by investigators with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF). Berry is the owner/operator of Hospitality Logging.

Investigators say this arrest comes on the heels of a two month long investigation conducted after three separate Washington Parish landowners filed complaints against Berry. Between June and November 2013, Berry allegedly cut timber for these separate landowners and failed to remit full payment for forest products as required by law. Berry entered into agreements with the landowners to harvest a total of 36 acres of marketable timber from property owned by the victims.

“At the conclusion of the timber harvest, each landowner says they realized that they were owed additional payments from Berry. Efforts to settle these complaints with Berry were unsuccessful,” said LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M.

Berry is charged with three counts of failure to remit payment to owners for timber. Investigators say the landowners are owed $550, $1,539.86 and $5,521.30. Berry was booked into the Washington Parish Jail. His bond is set at $15,000.