A Pikeville, Tennessee, man has been granted pretrial diversion on allegations of stealing timber from Bledsoe State Forest, and his charges will be cleared if he stays out of trouble for 11 months and 29 days.
John Timothy Simmons was indicted by a Bledsoe County grand jury on charges of theft, criminal trespassing and vandalism after he was seen loading logs onto a trailer on a forest road, according to Tennessee Department of Agriculture spokesperson Kim Doddridge.
In August, Simmons was granted a pretrial diversion on the charges, agreed to by the 12th Judicial District Attorney's Office in an agreement approved by Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Graham.
Simmons did not enter a guilty plea under the agreement, according to his lawyer.
"A guilty plea is not required for a pretrial diversion disposition," Simmons' attorney, Howard Upchurch, said Wednesday in an email. "As such, Mr. Simmons was not found guilty. He simply agreed to pay a small amount of restitution and the court costs - a disposition similar to a civil action, which I always believed this incident was."
Under the Aug. 24 agreement, Simmons' prosecution on the charges was suspended for 11 months, 29 days, during which time he must not break any laws, must conduct himself in a manner consistent with good citizenship and must pay $880 in restitution to the Department of Agriculture by Dec. 13, according to Bledsoe County Circuit Court documents.
The costs of retrieving the stolen timber are also included, according to officials.
The stolen white oak, pine and red oak logs - 24 in total - were part of a salvage sale from timber that was blown down in the area and were to be collected by a contractor, Doddridge said.
The crime unit and the Tennessee Division of Forestry worked with Bledsoe County's law enforcement and 12th Judicial District Attorney's office on the case, Doddridge said.
"Whether the timber theft is intentional or accidental, on public or private land, it can lead to fines and possible jail time," Agricultural Crime Unit Capt. Greg Whitehead said. "The estimated value of the 24 stolen logs, in addition to the employee and equipment costs associated with this case, were part of the penalties assessed. Stolen timber can be hard to track, and we were fortunate that Simmons was observed stealing the logs."
Doddridge noted some thefts can be accidental, most often on private land.
"Some of it is unintentional thefts because the property lines aren't well marked," she said, as sometimes timber cutters have permission to cut trees on a piece of property adjacent to other landowners but stray over unmarked lines.
Timber thefts are not uncommon in Tennessee.
In 2020, James Darren Scott was sentenced on a guilty plea to nearly a year behind bars on charges of stealing old white oak trees that National Park System authorities said were worth almost $60,000 from federal parkland.
Instead of going to trial, National Park Ranger Justin Young said in March, Scott accepted a plea deal on a charge of theft under $10,000 and was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days. Scott was not allowed to serve the sentence on probation because he had prior tree theft charges and had served time, Young said.
While the species of fallen trees Simmons stole was a mix, Scott had targeted highly valued white oak, one a particularly old tree on the west side of Lookout Mountain on land belonging to the Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Military Park.
According to state forestry officials, the driving force behind what appears to be an increase in white oak tree theft is the worldwide rise in popularity of Tennessee whiskey and Kentucky bourbon. Both must be stored in new white oak barrels.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton.