$1,000 reward given in criminal damage case

The Forest Protection Committee of the Louisiana Forestry Association made an award totaling $1,000 to a person who provided information leading to arrests and convictions in a case involving the criminal damage to logging equipment in Ouachita Parish.

Rewards are given upon the recommendation of Roy St. Pierre, chief of enforcement for the Office of Forestry under the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. The identities of the people who provide the information are kept confidential.

The case involved damage to logging equipment and a truck that totaled $100,000. Although Joshua Jurca and Rhonda Barnes, both of 2959 Prairie Road, Monroe, who were convicted of simple criminal damage to property, avoided a jail sentence, they were ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution by December 2017. The investigation was conducted by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Enforcement Division and the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Anyone who has information that might help solve a crime of the woods, such as arson, timber theft, equipment theft or vandalism, can call their parish sheriff’s office or the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Enforcement Division at (225) 925-4500.