Delaware County Man Charged With Timber Theft

Attorney General Spitzer lodged felony charges this week against a Hamden man for stealing $15,000-worth of prime hardwood trees from the woodlot of an unsuspecting neighbor.

"Timber theft is not a petty, victimless crime and we intend to bring the full weight of the law to bear against unscrupulous individuals who pursue this illegal get-rich-quick activity," said Spitzer.

Wayne E. Sparling, of MacGibbon Hollow road in Hamden, was charged Monday in Delaware County Court with one count of Third Degree Grand Larceny, a felony, and one count of Fourth Degree Criminal Solicitation, a misdemeanor. Sparling faces 2 & 1/3a to 7 years in prison if convicted.

Sparling, 49, is alleged to have duped a local logger into believing that he owned land that in fact belonged to a neighbor who lived out-of-state. Under instructions from Sparling, the logger felled 145 trees from the land in September and October 1994. Much of the stolen timber was high-value furniture-grade black cherry, red oak, maple, ash and birch.

The trees were taken to a sawmill in Livingston Manor, Sullivan County.

The Attorney General's office is cooperating in this prosecution with investigators from the Delaware County Sheriff's Department.

Sparling is scheduled to stand trial on July 19 in Delaware County Court before Judge Robert L. Estes.

"This is an unfortunate situation where an unprincipled man preyed on the property of his unsuspecting neighbor for quick personal profit," said David Prior, the Assistant Attorney General prosecuting the case.

Sparling's case is the third timber theft prosecution Spitzer has been involved in over the last six weeks.

On Feb. 23, a Greene County judge sentenced Shannon Dickenson, of Queensbury, Washington County, to 2 & 1/3 to 7 years in prison for illegally cutting 600 hardwood trees from state land in the Catskill Forest Preserve in the Town of Halcott.

And on Feb. 1, John Finch, of Binghamton, pled guilty to illegally cutting some $40,000-worth of trees from the land of four property owners in the Town of Richmond, Tioga County. Finch is scheduled to be sentenced April 1.