Five people have been sentenced for conspiring to steal timber from the Menominee Indian Reservation.
According to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the five people were authorized to log timber for Menominee Tribal Enterprises (MTE) from designated areas on the Menominee Indian Reservation. But, on at least 100 occasions, the defendants logged extra timber not authorized by MTE. The suspects then sold the extra timber to two sawmills outside of the reservation for payments.
Dugan Webster, Arthur Fish, Chauncey Webster, Derrin Webster, and Melvin Caldwell, Jr. are all facing prison time and thousands of dollars in fines.
The U.S. Attorney's news release said the sawmills paid Dugan and Derrin Webster more than $400,000 between January 2012 and September 2018 for the timber. The money was then divided up among the five defendants. The news release said the defendants used spray paint to make it appear they were working with trees designated by MTE for harvest.
Dugan Webster was sentenced to 20 months in prison, Arthur Fish faces 18 months, Chauncey Webster 12 months, Derrin Webster 7 months, Melvin Caldwell, Jr. 3 months.
