COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M Forest Service law enforcement
investigators arrested Jacob Twomey of Panola County on Monday, April 26, on a
grand jury indictment. Twomey was charged with Timber Purchase as Trustee with
Intent to Defraud an amount greater than $500, but less than $20,000 – a state
jail felony.
The plaintiff of this case is a landowner who came into an
agreement with Twomey on July 31, 2020, to harvest timber for a fixed rate per
ton. While payments were made at first, about halfway through the harvesting
period Twomey stopped making his payments while continuing to harvest the
landowner’s timber.
“The plaintiff was partially paid for his timber,” said Mike
Kuhnert, an investigator for the Texas A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement
Department. “But after payments stopped, he continued to cut. By the end of the
harvest, the money had still not been received.”
Investigator Kuhnert first received the complaint on
November 2, 2020. The suspect was then conducting business as One Up Services,
an LLC based out of Tenaha, Texas, which is owned and operated by Twomey.
“Multiple opportunities were given to compensate the
landowner in full, because that is our ultimate goal,” said Kuhnert. “When no
resolution was reached, the case was submitted to a grand jury and received a
grand jury indictment.”
Landowners
who have entered into agreements with timber harvesting companies have the
protection of the law under the Texas Natural Resources Code. Texas A&M
Forest Service law enforcement investigators are subject matter experts
regarding this code, and the natural resources code states that money collected
from timber is trust money. If a trustee fails to pay all beneficiaries for the
timber within 45 days of the timber being sold, that person has committed the
offense of timber fraud.
“Timber Theft is a growing crime in Panola County, and my
office will prosecute these crimes as they occur,” said Danny Buck Davidson,
Criminal District Attorney. “I appreciate the Texas A&M Forest Service Law
Enforcement Department in assisting our landowners with protecting their timber
assets.”
To
report suspected timber theft activities, call the timber theft hotline at 1-800-364-3470,
and for more information, visit https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/lawenforcement/reporttimbertheft/
###
Contacts:
Mike Kuhnert, Texas
A&M Forest Service Law Enforcement Investigator, (903) 693-6865, mkuhnert@tfs.tamu.edu
Texas
A&M Forest Service Communications, 979-458-6606, newsmedia@tfs.tamu.edu