TACOMA, Wash. – The leader of a tree poaching ring that stole valuable wood from the Olympic National Forest and started a huge wildfire is headed to prison.
A federal judge in Tacoma sentenced 39-year-old Justin Andrew Wilke to 20 months for illegally harvesting maple trees in 2018.
He and his accomplices were after wood that is highly valued for making musical instruments.
The group encountered a wasp’s nest in a tree they had targeted in August 2018 and used gasoline to light the nest on fire.
That blaze caused a wildfire that burned 3300 acres over four months and cost $4.2 million to fight.
Wilke will also have to forfeit money he made from tree poaching and pay restitution to the U.S. Forest Service.