Man gets probation for taking timber

COEUR d'ALENE - Norman Leroy Bogart, 51, Kingston, was sentenced in federal court on Thursday to three years of probation for illegally cutting timber on national forest lands, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

Senior U.S. District Judge Robert H. Whaley also ordered Bogart to pay $1,700 in restitution. He pleaded guilty to one felony count of willful injury or depredation of property of the United States on June 24.

According to the plea agreement, Bogart admitted that between April and October 2012, he illegally cut and hauled timber from an area within the Idaho Panhandle National Forests, near his home in Kingston.

The U.S. Forest Service initiated an investigation after discovering that 40 green trees had been cut within the one area. U.S. Forest Service investigators used a deer camera to capture Bogart's vehicle traveling to and from the cut site.

On Oct. 3, 2012, the U.S. Forest Service executed a search warrant at Bogart's residence and seized more than 58 cords of timber cut into firewood.

One pile was estimated to be 40 feet long, 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall, according to the plea agreement. Investigators determined that most of the timber was green when cut. Investigators matched some of the larger timber seized from Bogart's property to several stumps at the cut location within the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Forest Service, with the assistance of the Idaho State Police, the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force and the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office.