Lewis County Sirens.com

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

Plea agreements with the two men accused of stealing thousands of dollars of old growth timber out of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest mean neither one will go to jail.

It would have been problematic to take it to trial, Deputy Prosecutor Brad Meagher told a judge this afternoon.

There were differences of opinion about the value the wood as well as a “corpus delecti” issue, Meager said.

Corpus delecti is a term referring to a principle that means by law, prosecutors can’t use a person’s confession without independent evidence backing it up, according to Meagher.

“One really important fact is both were very cooperative with the forest service,” Meagher told the judge in the Chehalis courtroom. “And especially when it comes to managing our natural resources, we want people to be cooperative.”

Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler agreed with the sentence both the deputy prosecutor and defense attorney recommended: one year in jail, with all of it suspended for one year, along with fines, fees and then restitution to be decided later.

George M. Catlin, 52, of Toledo, pleaded guilty today to third-degree possession of stolen property, a gross misdemeanor. Troy S. McClure, 45, of Winlock, made the same deal in front of Judge Nelson Hunt on Wednesday.

The south Lewis County men were charged in April for allegedly taking more than 100 cords of wood valued at more than $13,000 last spring and summer out of spotted owl habitat south of Randle.

Permits only allow a maximum of six cords of personal use firewood per year to be collected from designated areas.

On July 6 of last year, National Forest Law Enforcement Officer Ron Malamphy was eastbound on U.S. Highway 12 when he saw a flatbed truck carrying a load of large old growth fir, and with the assistance of a state trooper, McClure and Catlin were arrested. McClure had an active permit.

Malamphy had taken multiple reports of sightings of a similarly described truck loaded with old growth timber over the previous months and even observed the same truck parked at Wal-Mart unoccupied with a for sale sign attached to a load of old growth fir.

After their arrest, the men voluntarily showed officers the place they had been getting the wood, according to charging documents.

Defense attorney Chris Baum said outside the courtroom his client admitted to taking firewood from public land in excess of the permit, but  part of the question was if they were in the right area.

“It’s not actually as devious as charging papers made it look,” Baum said. “It’s pretty innocuous.”

Inside the courtroom Baum addressed Judge Lawler saying his client was helping out McClure who was responsible for getting the permit, but was sorry for what he did.

“He’s an out of work logger,” Baum told the judge. “He was just trying to make money for his family, and he knows he made a mistake.”