By Taylor McKinnie, The Inter-Mountain
ELKINS, W.Va. — A Randolph County logging company is facing a civil lawsuit from the United States Attorney’s Office for logging in a National Forest that could result in them paying more than $80,000 in monetary damages.
The United States Attorney’s Office has filed a civil lawsuit against John R. Fox and Fox Logging, LLC, of Valley Bend for trespassing and cutting down approximately 10 acres of timber on the Monongahela National Forest near Slaty Fork in Pocahontas County.
The criminal complaint was filed for the government by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maximillian Nogay.
According to the complaint, an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service found that Fox allegedly encroached on nearly 10 acres of the National Forest, which resulted in the cutting of more than 45,500 cubic feet of mature hardwood and pine saw timber. The amount of timber cut was valued at nearly $28,000.
Fox is also accused of damaging and taking timber from an adjacent private property that he did not have permission to cut in.