DNA leads to the indictment of a southern Missouri man- for illegally harvesting trees from the Mark Twain National Forest.
According to the USDA, in October 2019, law enforcement was notified of potential illegal harvesting near Siloam Springs, Missouri. They noticed eight freshly cut walnut stumps at the site- that led investigators to a nearby lumber mill where they found a log with similar dimensions to the illegally felled trees. From there USDA Forest Research geneticist Richard Cronn performed a tree DNA test to prove that the two pieces of wood belonged to the stump. Using this, the suspect was taken into custody.
The defendant pled guilty in July 2023 to one felony count of depredation of Government property and was sentenced to 5 months of time served, a 3-year supervised release, and restitution for the value of the lumber.
This case is the first case that tree DNA was used to prosecute an individual in the United States.
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