Sentence handed down for cedar theft

Bridge destroyed during removal of wood

PORT TOWNSEND — A Forks man has been sentenced to more than a year and five months in prison for the theft of cedar from a state bridge on Upper Hoh Road in West Jefferson County.

Troy Crandall, 63, was sentenced on Friday in Jefferson County Superior Court to 17½ months in prison and restitution of $20,220.60 to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

He had been convicted Feb. 2 in a jury trial of charges of first-degree malicious mischief, second-degree theft and first-degree trafficking in stolen property.

His accomplice, Jose Carmen Salinas, 42, earlier had pleaded guilty to first-degree trafficking in stolen property and first-degree malicious mischief, said Jefferson County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Anna Phillips. He was sentenced with credit for time served — which meant he served no additional time — as well as paying the same amount in restitution to DNR as Crandall.

The two were discovered on Oct. 22 with freshly cut chunks of cedar chainsawed from a bridge about 1½ miles behind a locked DNR gate on Upper Hoh Road in West Jefferson County, according to DNR Officer Allen Nelson.

Nelson said two men sitting in a nearby vehicle — Crandall and Salinas — were cold, wet, covered in cedar saw dust and smelled of chainsaw gas.

Nelson said Crandall told him the bridge was just rotting away while Salinas said the two “were hungry and needed cash.”

Nelson said the outside span on the north side of the bridge had been cut and removed, cables holding the bridge together were hanging underneath and the west side bottom girder was sawed apart.

Nelson estimated bridge repair costs at about $20,000 and said about $3,000 in cedar blocks were cut from the structure.

DNR had said officials believed the two were going to sell the cedar on the black market for mill owners to turn into shake and shingles.

The sentencing range for Crandall was 15-20 months. Phillips asked Judge Keith Harper to impose the top of the range — 20 months — because the crime created danger to others by critically damaging a bridge in addition to restricting access to a section of forest from firefighters and search and rescue members.

Crandall reportedly said that he was “sorry, not sorry.”

Harper sentenced Crandall after saying he had shown no remorse nor presented a defense.

The prosecution also requested that Crandall be barred from DNR land for 10 years, a request the judge did not grant.

“While we are disappointed that the defendant was not prohibited from entering DNR lands, we do appreciate that someone who has damaged public infrastructure and thereby placed the public in danger was held accountable,” said James Kennedy, prosecuting attorney, in a press release.

More in Crime

Trial date set for 2016 murder

Suspect in woodcarver’s death goes to court in August

Cox again refuses court appearance

Standoff suspect to get competency evaluation

Man indicted on charges in alleged stabbing

Trial scheduled to begin in August

Man pleads guilty in sex crime

Sentencing hearing set Aug. 8 in Port Townsend

Craig A. Gallauher.
Man arrested on investigation of sexual exploitation, luring

A 52-year-old Sequim man has been arrested on investigation of… Continue reading

Trial date set for August in Sequim hit-and-run collision

Lawyers expect case will be extended due to amount of discovery

Jury convicts man of second-degree rape

Vasquez to be sentenced Aug. 8 in case that began in 2019

Tina Marie Alcorn, right, talks with attorney John Hayden during Alcorn’s first appearance on Tuesday in Clallam County Superior Court after extradition from Arkansas in connection with the 2016 homicide of George Cecil David in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Woman charged in decade-old murder

Alcorn, 54, extradited in woodcarver’s death

Port Townsend man sentenced to two years in prison

O’Donnell pleads guilty to residential burglary, second-degree theft

Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies respond to unrelated firearms incidents

Man, 18, turns himself in after allegedly shooting from moving vehicle

Trial date moved for man charged with attempted murder

The trial date for a Port Angeles man charged… Continue reading