Man sentenced in cutting, sale of old-growth cedars

A man who cut and removed 27 old-growth cedar trees from the Wenatchee National Forest in 2004 will serve about 9 months in prison and be required to pay $37,688 in restitution.

Kevin John Moran, of Stanwood, Wash., was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Spokane by Senior Judge Fred Van Sickle.

Moran, 49, pleaded guilty last November to a charge of theft of government property on U.S. Forest Service land adjoining his property.

The theft occurred in 2004 when Moran, a self-employed logger and framer, trespassed as far as 100 yards into the national forest to cut cedar trees.

“The investigation showed that this area is one of the last old-growth cedar stands in the Wenatchee National Forest,” U.S. Attorney Jim McDevitt said in a news release.

“Based on the diameter of the harvested timber, some exceeding 5 feet, it was estimated that the age of the trees ranged from 400 to 700 years old,” the U.S. attorney said.

A U.S. Forest Service investigator determined that Moran sold the trees to a mill in Everett.

The judge sentenced Moran to a year and a day in federal prison, a sentence that means he will get credit for “good time” and likely be released in nine months.

The judge allowed Moran to self-report to a federal prison, sometime after Sept. 15.

Upon his release, Moran will be on supervised release for three years and be required to begin making $37,688 in restitution ordered by the court.