A Salyersville, Ky. man was sentenced this week to 10 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $80,000 in restitution in connection with the theft of lumber from land in Cass County, Ind.
Court documents indicate 40-year-old Cheyenne Allen conducted a scheme to steal valuable walnut trees from the land of an absentee owner. After his timber-buying license was suspended by the State of Indiana, he reportedly began negotiating with the landowner to buy property in Cass County. Before the land was cleared, authorities say he had a stand of valuable walnut trees logged and sold it for more than $80,000. Federal prosecutors say the landowner had no knowledge Allen had cleared the land.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Indiana Department of Natural Resources investigated.
