Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said four Bienville Parish residents were arrested Nov. 4 on timber theft, forgery and conspiracy charges.
Terry Garner, 42, 291 Lee Godwin Road., Saline; Rodger Garner, 46, 107 Willow St., Springhill; Tommy Daniel Garner, 34, 934 N. Goodwill St., Goldonna; and Kevin Lynn Garner, 36, 999 Strain Allen Rd., Jonesboro, were accused of stealing timber from two Jackson Parish landowners. The Garners are brothers.
Terry and Roger Garner, owners of T&R Wood Company, were hired to cut timber on a pay-as-cut basis for the Jackson Parish landowners between January and June 2009. As the timber was harvested, altered sales records were provided to both landowners showing that the amounts of harvested timber were significantly less than the actual amounts that the loggers were paid for by the timber company.
Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry investigator Jason Watts said recovered logging records show that the weights on 46 scale tickets sold during the six month period were altered to show less weight.
"We recovered original settlement sheets and these records, which had been rewritten, were subsequently forwarded to the landowners with the alterations,” Watts said. “The landowners received less money for their timber than they should have.”
Daniel and Terry Garner were also charged with forgery.
-30- |