Four men have been charged with first-degree theft recently in Clallam and Jefferson counties in cases of what foresters call one of the biggest crimes facing the North Olympic Peninsula’s timber land – cedar poaching.
A pickup full of cedar blocks can fetch between $750 and $1,000 at a mill, almost twice what it was worth a few years ago, said timber officials.
“With the limitations there are on logging as it is, it’s become very lucrative to do the black-market sales,” said Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Julie Dalzell.
Randy Messenbrink, who was brought out of retirement by the state Department of Natural Resources last winter to help track down cedar thieves, has been kept busy.
He has started a new investigation of a theft site each week or 10 days.
“I’m not even going to guess what percentage [of the theft sites] I’m getting into,” Messenbrink said.
