Suspect indicted by grand jury for third
degree felony timber fraud in Jasper County
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Troy Grice of Groveton, Texas, was
indicted on February 25, 2021, by a grand jury in Jasper County on the charge
of Timber Purchase as Trustee with Intent to Defraud. Grice is charged with defrauding
a Jasper County landowner of between $20,000 and $100,000 worth of timber – a
felony of the third degree.
Timber theft can take a variety of forms – from harvesting
timber without the landowner’s knowledge or consent, to entering into a formal
agreement, harvesting a landowners timber, and then not paying them the full purchase
price.
“The past few years we have seen an increase in Timber Fraud
cases. Most of these cases started off with a legitimate contract, but then the
landowner only receives partial payment, or no payment at all,” said Josh
Mizrany, Investigator with Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement
Department.
Grice,
49, entered into a timber harvesting agreement through his company Apex Timber with a Jasper county landowner in January of 2019 to
harvest 314 acres of their timber. The harvest was halted by the landowner in
April of 2019, after delinquent payments started occurring, and the landowner
reached out to Texas A&M Forest Service law enforcement for help.
Texas
A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement are subject matter experts on the Texas
Natural Resource Code, which is designed to protect landowners.
“The
Texas Natural Resource Code has a section which states that money collected
from timber is trust money,” said Mizrany. “And if the trustee of that money
doesn’t pay all of the beneficiaries for the timber within 45 days of the
timber being sold, that person has committed the offense of timber fraud.”
Once the Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement Department
was notified of the unpaid balance, they began investigating the case. Through their
investigation, Texas A&M Forest Service was able to verify that Grice had
not paid all of the trust money owed to the landowner.
Grice was arrested under warrant on March 5, 2020, in
Trinity County. The case was turned in to District Attorney Anne Pickle, who
brought the case before a grand jury. After hearing testimonies, the grand jury
decided that there was probable cause for Grice to be charged with a felony of
the third degree.
Meanwhile, Mizrany can’t stress enough the importance of involving
Texas A&M Forest Service in any case of suspected timber fraud or timber theft.
“If you go into an agreement with a timber harvesting
company and payment has stopped, or you’re not receiving all of the revenue
that you’re owed—that they’ve contractually agreed to—it’s important to notify
the Texas A&M Forest Service law enforcement department right away,” said
Mizrany.
If
you are unfamiliar with selling timber, you are urged to contact your local
Texas A&M Forest Service office. Our field staff will assist you with
securing the assistance of a professional resource manager to help select trees
for harvest, estimate values and find potential buyers.
For
more information, visit https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/lawenforcement/reporttimbertheft/
Or
to report suspected timber theft activities, call the timber theft hotline at
1-800-364-3470.
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Contacts:
Josh Mizrany, TFS Law
Enforcement Investigator, (936) 295-5688, jmizrany@tfs.tamu.edu
Texas
A&M Forest Service Communications, 979-458-6606, newsmedia@tfs.tamu.edu