TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - Federal officials say a man will spend 30 days in prison for cutting down and stealing a big leaf maple tree near Olympic National Park.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says 63-year-old Michael Welches was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 30 days in prison.
Welches pleaded guilty to depredation of government property in October.
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Court records say on Nov. 11, 2013, the Park Service was notified that a neighbor saw people wearing headlamps and heard chain saws in the middle of the night.
Documents say the next night the neighbor alerted a ranger to activity which resulted in the arrests of Welches and two other men as they were cutting and loading a maple.
A receipt indicated the men had sold some of the wood to a Quilcene, Washington music wood supplier. The value of the timber as music wood is estimated at nearly $9,000.
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