Justin L. Massey, 40, West Plains, was sentenced April 23 to two years and six months in federal prison, without parole, for illegally harvesting and stealing trees from Mark Twain National Forest, according to Western District of Missouri U.S. Attorney's Office Public Affairs Officer Don Ledford.
The federal sentence is to be served consecutively to previous state convictions Massey is already imprisoned for. He must also pay $30,000 in restitution to the U.S. Forest Service, the proceeds of his theft.
On July 19, 2023, Massey pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government property and admitted he cut down trees illegally in Mark Twain National Forest between Dec. 15, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2021, in the area of County Road 5120 near Pomona.
According to his plea agreement, Massey cut down at least 10 trees that were removed from the area and taken to a local sawmill, where they were sold. The restitution he owes is based on the value of the trees illegally harvested and stolen from Mark Twain National Forest and other trees damaged due to the illegal harvesting.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the U.S. Forest Service.
According to court records, Massey has two prior felony convictions: a 2005 conviction in Howell County of second-degree assault, for which he was handed a five-year sentence, and a March 2022 conviction on an Oregon County charge of first-degree vehicle-tampering, to which he pleaded guilty, resulting in his being sentenced to the Missouri Department of Corrections for five years.
In 2021, Massey was charged in Howell County with first-degree domestic assault and unlawful possession of a firearm, and court records show the case was to be transferred to Wright County on a change of venue but no further action has been logged since August 2021, when the order was signed.
