Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) Forestry Enforcement officers arrested a Caddo Parish man Tuesday, Sept. 15 on timber theft charges, Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said. Terry Michael Lovett, 39, 18837 Buffalo Road, Ida, was charged with two counts of failure to remit prompt payment for timber after allegedly stealing timber from two landowners in Caddo Parish. Strain said two separate complaints filed by the Shreveport Country Club and Wayne Pleasant Land Clearing and Development, LLC led to the arrest of Lovett. Forestry Enforcement Officer Jason Watts said Lovett was hired to cut timber on tracts owned by Shreveport Country Club and Wayne Pleasant Land Clearing between Sept. and Dec. 2008, but allegedly failed to pay the landowners for the timber harvested. “We recovered scale tickets and checks from both operations that showed Mr. Lovett, operating as Line Creek Timber Company, was paid in full for all the timber removed from the properties,” Watts said. “Lovett then failed to pay Shreveport Country Club $24,250 and Wayne Pleasant Land Clearing $12,000, according to their contracts.” Lovett was previously arrested January 22, 2008 on failure to remit prompt payment charges on 289 acres of timber belonging to Park Lake Estatesof Bossier Parish. In this case, Lovett allegedly issued $40,930 worth of worthless checks and in addition failed to provide records, scale tickets and money on 49 loads of timber valued at $55,000. Anyone suspecting they may have been a victim of timber theft should call the Baton Rouge headquarters at 225-925-4500. -30- |