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May 27. 2012 1:02AM
Logger accused of bilking 2 property owners
HAVERHILL — A Grafton County Superior Court grand jury has charged a Canaan logger with cheating two New Hampshire couples — from Bow and Candia — by understating the amount of white pine he cut from their forest properties in Grafton on two separate occasions between 2008 and 2010.
In three indictments handed up May 18 at the North Haverhill court and made public last week, the grand jury indicted Lester Caron, 45, of 201 Route 4 in Canaan on two counts of deceptive forestry business practices in his dealings with Brian and Lisa Bennett of Bow between December 2008 and September 2009 and with Phillip and Sharon Packard of Candia between April and September 2009.
Caron was also indicted on one count of falsifying to the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration the details of a January 2010 business transaction report, apparently in connection with the Packard incident. The three charges are Class B felonies.
Caron is accused of misrepresenting the amount of timber he cut by thousands of board feet, both to the couples and to the state. The Bennetts said Friday they hope any court judgment against Caron will include his paying them what they are owed.
“We’d like to see the money; I don’t know if we ever will,” said Brian Bennett, who said he and Sharon Packard are brother and sister.
Their father grew up in Grafton, he said, and the land has been in their family for years.
He said the property had been subdivided, and the couples own adjacent parcels that total about 35 acres, while an uncle owns a third section.
According to the indictment involving the DRA, “Lester Caron made and signed a report of wood cut pursuant to RSA 79:11 representing that 10,695 board feet of white pine had been cut … when in fact the board feet of white pine harvested — exceeded 50,000 board feet.”
While contracted with the Packards in 2009 to “pay a reasonable market value for white pine timber among other forestry products,” Caron paid them $495, according to the indictment.
At $110 per 1,000 board feet, he would have paid them for about 4,500 board feet of timber, when the price for the more than 50,000 board feet he allegedly harvested should have been at least $5,500.
Between December 2008 and September 2009, according to one indictment, Caron and the Bennetts contracted for a similar timber transaction at the rate of $130 per 100 board feet.
Caron paid them about $12,530, when the amount should have been “in excess of $23,000,” the indictment said.
Asked how they came in contact with Caron, Brian Bennett said, “He solicited us,” at a time when the couples had been considering having their properties harvested.
He said he believed state timber inspectors had been alerted to Caron by a previous incident, then became further suspicious regarding the low amount of cut timber he was reporting.
No telephone listing could be found for Caron.
In three indictments handed up May 18 at the North Haverhill court and made public last week, the grand jury indicted Lester Caron, 45, of 201 Route 4 in Canaan on two counts of deceptive forestry business practices in his dealings with Brian and Lisa Bennett of Bow between December 2008 and September 2009 and with Phillip and Sharon Packard of Candia between April and September 2009.
Caron was also indicted on one count of falsifying to the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration the details of a January 2010 business transaction report, apparently in connection with the Packard incident. The three charges are Class B felonies.
Caron is accused of misrepresenting the amount of timber he cut by thousands of board feet, both to the couples and to the state. The Bennetts said Friday they hope any court judgment against Caron will include his paying them what they are owed.
“We’d like to see the money; I don’t know if we ever will,” said Brian Bennett, who said he and Sharon Packard are brother and sister.
Their father grew up in Grafton, he said, and the land has been in their family for years.
He said the property had been subdivided, and the couples own adjacent parcels that total about 35 acres, while an uncle owns a third section.
According to the indictment involving the DRA, “Lester Caron made and signed a report of wood cut pursuant to RSA 79:11 representing that 10,695 board feet of white pine had been cut … when in fact the board feet of white pine harvested — exceeded 50,000 board feet.”
While contracted with the Packards in 2009 to “pay a reasonable market value for white pine timber among other forestry products,” Caron paid them $495, according to the indictment.
At $110 per 1,000 board feet, he would have paid them for about 4,500 board feet of timber, when the price for the more than 50,000 board feet he allegedly harvested should have been at least $5,500.
Between December 2008 and September 2009, according to one indictment, Caron and the Bennetts contracted for a similar timber transaction at the rate of $130 per 100 board feet.
Caron paid them about $12,530, when the amount should have been “in excess of $23,000,” the indictment said.
Asked how they came in contact with Caron, Brian Bennett said, “He solicited us,” at a time when the couples had been considering having their properties harvested.
He said he believed state timber inspectors had been alerted to Caron by a previous incident, then became further suspicious regarding the low amount of cut timber he was reporting.
No telephone listing could be found for Caron.
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