Logging equipment damaged in Winn

The Louisiana Forestry Association is offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who destroyed logging equipment in Winn Parish.

Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry enforcement agents report that vandals entered a logging operation site and destroyed the radiator in a 2011 748 John Deere Skidder and "managed to bust a large hole in the engine block of a 2014 643 John Deere Cutter. LDAF enforcement and Winn Parish Sheriff's Office deputies on Oct. 17 were called to the site off of L. Kieffer Road in St. Maurice to investigate the criminal damage to the logging equipment.

"The criminal actions of others have resulted in the shutdown of this logging operation," said LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain. "This local logger (from Natchitoches Parish) is now looking at an estimated repair bill of $16,000. This does not include his lost down time."

Anyone with information is urged to call the LDAF Emergency Hotline at 855-452-5323 or the Winn Parish Sheriff's Office at 318-628-4611.