A man from West Plains will spend over two years in prison for an usual type of theft… trees.
40-year-old Justin Massey admitted to illegally cutting down close to ten trees inside Mark Twain National Forest between December of 2020 and January of 2021 and then took the trees to a local sawmill.
He pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property in July of 2023.
The estimated damage of the stolen trees led to a restitution of $30,000, which he will pay back to the U.S. Forest Service.
Massey will also forfeit another $30,000 to the government, and spend two and a half years in federal prison. He will not be eligible for parole.