Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com.
Date: 07-09-2021
Case Style:
Case Number: 3:19-cr-05364-BHS
Judge: Benjamin H. Settle
Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (Pierce County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States District Attorney’s Office
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Tacoma, Washington theft of maple wood public property charge criminal defense lawyer represented Justin Andrew Wilke, 39, who was charged with conspiracy, theft of public property, depredation of public property, trafficking in unlawfully harvested timber, and attempting to traffic in unlawfully harvested timber. U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle scheduled sentencing for October 18, 2021.
The lead defendant in a scheme to steal maple wood that resulted in a massive 2018 forest fire on the Olympic Peninsula was convicted July 8, 2021, in U.S. District Court in Tacoma following a 6-day jury trial.
“When people steal trees from our public lands, they are stealing a beautiful and irreplaceable resource from all of us and from future generations,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Gorman. “That theft, coupled with the sheer destruction of the forest fire that resulted from this activity, warrants federal criminal prosecution. I commend the various branches of the U.S. Forest Service who worked diligently to investigate and hold this defendant accountable.”
According to records filed in the case, between April and August 2018, Justin Andrew Wilke conducted an illegal logging operation in the Elk Lake area of the Olympic National Forest, near Hood Canal. In July 2018, just days after his release from state prison, another defendant, Shawn Edward Williams, 49, joined the conspiracy, helping Wilke remove maple from the National Forest and transporting it with Wilke to a mill in Tumwater, Washington. The type of maple harvested by the defendants is highly prized and used to produce musical instruments.
This was the first use of tree DNA evidence in a federal criminal trial. Wilke claimed the wood he sold to a Tumwater mill had been harvested from private property with a valid permit. However, at trial, Richard Cronn, Phd., a Research Geneticist for the USDA Forest Service, testified that the wood Wilke sold was a genetic match to the remains of three poached maple trees investigators had discovered in the Elk Lake area. The DNA analysis was so precise that it found the probability of the match being coincidental was approximately one in one undecillion (one followed by 36 zeroes). Based on this evidence, the jury concluded the wood Wilke sold the mill had been stolen.
On August 3, 2018, the group decided to cut a maple tree that contained a wasp’s nest near the base of the tree. To remove the nest, the group sprayed insecticide and gasoline on the nest and base of the tree and then lit the nest on fire. The group failed to extinguish the fire, which developed into a wildfire later named the “Maple Fire.” The Maple Fire consumed more than 3,300 acres between August and November 2018 and cost approximately $4.2 million to contain. Some witnesses testified at trial that Wilke was standing next to the nest when it was lit on fire, and therefore appeared to have set the fire. However, because the fire was set at night, they were not able to see his exact actions. The jury did not convict Wilke of the two federal counts related to the forest fire: setting timber afire and using fire in furtherance of a felony.
One of those who testified that Wilke set the fire, Shawn Williams, pleaded guilty in December 2019 to theft of public property and setting timber afire. He was sentenced in September 2020 to 30 months in prison.
Quick and diligent investigative work by a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer and by a U.S. Forest Service Wildland firefighter preserved important evidence in the case.
The counts of conviction are punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Judge Settle will determine the appropriate sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Seth Wilkinson and Will Dreher.
Conspiracy to Steal and Commit Depredation of Public Property, and to Traffic in Unlawfully Harvested Timber - 18:371
(1)
Conspiracy - 18:371
(1s)
Conspiracy - 18:371
(1ss)
Theft of Public Property - 18:641 and 2
(2)
Theft of Public Property - 18:641 and 2
(2s)
Theft of Public Property - 18:641 and 2
(2ss)
Depredation of Public Property - 18:1361 and 2
(3)
Depredation of Public Property - 18:1361 and 2
(3s)
Depredation of Public Property - 18:1361 and 2
(3ss)
Trafficking in Unlawfully Harvested Timber - 16:3372(a)(1) and 3373(d) and 18:2
(4)
Trafficking in Unlawfully Harvested Timber - 16:3372(a)(1) and 3373(d) and 18:2
(4s)
Trafficking in Unlawfully Harvested Timber - 16:3372(a)(1) and 3373(d) and 18:2
(4ss)
Depredation of Public Property - 18:1361 and 2
(5)
Depredation of Public Property - 18:1361 and 2
(5s)
Depredation of Public Property - 18:1361 and 2
(5ss)
Attempt to Traffic in Unlawfully Harvested Timber - 16:3372(a)(1) and (4), 3373(d), and 18:2
(6)
Attempt to Traffic in Unlawfully Harvested Timber - 16:3372(a)(1) and (4), 3373(d), and 18:2
(6s)
Attempt to Traffic in Unlawfully Harvested Timber - 16:3372(a)(1) and (4), 3373(d), and 18:2
(6ss)
Setting Timber Afire - 18:1855 and 2
(7)
Setting Timber Afire - 18:1855 and 2
(7s)
Using Fire in Furtherance of a Felony - 18:844(h)(1) and 2
(8)
Using Fire in Furtherance of a Felony - 18:844(h)(1) and 2
(8s)
Outcome: Defendant was found guilty.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: