We often associate crime with the big cities, since the law-breakers in those areas seem to get most of the attention.
While it is true that our large urban centers see plenty of assaults, thefts, shootings, and far too many murders, crime does not live in certain zip codes.
There are those unlawful acts that occur in the rural parts of the map, and while they might be less frequent, they are just as sinister or brazen as the felonies city folks see take place in their neighborhoods.
While law enforcement in the countryside might encounter a lot of trespassing cases, illegal dumping, poaching, and the unsafe use of firearms, they also come across a few more heinous, destructive, and infuriating offenses.
Three recent cases in Michigan highlight the bold and outrageous side of criminal activity that takes place far from Main Street, and showcase the diligent work done by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources patrolling the 20 million acres of forest land in the state.
One of these major violations involved a grandiose theft deep in the woods in the Upper Peninsula, and the other a heist involving raw copper in that same northern extreme of the Great Lake State where the remote and rugged landscape gives thieves plenty of cover. A third case in the U.P. involving a dispute over hunting rights on state land ended in injury, but easily could have involved death.
After receiving a contract to harvest only certain clearly marked timber from state forest land in Menominee County in the extreme western end of the U.P., a logger decided to do a little marking of his own. In the process, he stole from the state, the landscape, the wildlife of the area, and the people of Michigan.
Raymond Vetort, the owner of R&J Logging, went onto the extensive wooded tract after the foresters had marked trees that needed to come out due to crowding or signs of deterioration. Using his own spray paint, Vetort marked additional trees – a lot of them and very valuable ones at that – and eventually harvested the trees the state forestry folks had marked, and the ones he decided to add to the haul.
Before anyone said “what do a few trees matter”, Vetort pled guilty to stealing at least $100,000 in timber.
Dustin Satler, a forester with the MDNR, said the general public often has little idea what some trees are worth. “One tree might have four logs, and the value of those logs might get up to $300-$500 each,” he said, adding “some are more.”
Vetort was guilty of stealing primarily sugar maple, a hardwood prized by high-end cabinet and furniture makers, and one that is also used for flooring, due to its attractive finish and strength. MDNR officials say that in Michigan's Lower Peninsula, black walnut trees are a favorite target of timber thieves.
Vetort was eventually charged with trespassing or damaging state land, larceny, and malicious destruction – all felonies. It took a long time and an abundance of investigative work to make the case against Vetort, who originally bid on the timber harvest in 2015 but was not formally charged until 2021.
“Natural resource crimes are unique and are often solved over an extended period of time as evidence is pieced together,” said the chief of the MDNR Law Enforcement Division, Dave Shaw. “Urban and people-versus-people crime comes to fruition sooner because people talk and it’s easier to piece together the evidence.”
Following his guilty plea, the court ordered Vetort to pay nearly $120,000 in reimbursement to the state. He will also serve three years of probation and his six-month jail term was suspended as long as he stays out of trouble during his probation.
In a second case from the remote reaches of the U.P., the thieves went underground to steal natural resources from the citizenry. It took place in Keweenaw County, where a bustling copper mining operation was in place more than a century ago, but the mine shafts had long since been capped off, leaving only space for bats to enter and use the mines for hibernation.
Acting on a tip, MDNR officers and a Keweenaw County deputy sheriff staked out the site and caught three individuals attempting to heist hundreds of pounds of copper. MDNR conservation officer Sgt. Marc Pomroy said the criminals were stealing copper ore, the mineral in its raw, rough form.
“It still needed to be treated and cleaned, but was still valuable,” Pomroy said. “These folks make a living off of breaking into old mines and stealing the copper product to later sell in the clean polished form.”
Copper thefts are increasingly common in urban areas where vacant homes and even new construction sites are stripped of plumbing and wiring by thieves who sell the materials to scrap metal dealers. Copper is in high demand for those plumbing and electrical applications, and in lithium-ion batteries.
Two of the perpetrators in the Keweenaw case got 30-day jail sentences and fines after being found guilty of breaking and entering in a jury trial, while the third offender pleaded guilty to trespassing and paid close to $500 in fines and court costs.
In a third crime-in-the-woods case, a hunter was injured after another man sabotaged the hunter's tree stand, which resulted in a fall and injuries to the hunter's ankle and back. The scenario could have been much more serious, had the hunter suffered a debilitating injury and gone into shock on the forest floor, or he could have died at the site if he struck his head or neck with the fall.
The incident took place on state land in Marquette County. Michigan law states that no one can claim exclusive hunting rights on public land and that any tree stand or blind set up on public land can be used by another hunter.
When this U.P. deer hunter returned to his tree stand on public land, he found a note attached to his trail camera telling him that the spot belonged to Thomas Steele III of Chelsea, who was then enrolled at nearby Northern Michigan University. The hunter also found that the images on his trail camera had been deleted.
The hunter returned to his tree stand a few weeks later, removed his memory card from the trail camera, climbed up to the stand's platform, and then fell 15-20 feet to the ground. Injured, the hunter hobbled out of the woods and called 911. He also discovered that his memory card had been wiped clean a second time.
The hunter returned to the site after several weeks and put new straps on his tree stand. MDNR officers continued to monitor the site and found evidence that Steele had cut the tree stand straps for a second time.
"The straps were cut in such a way that they would support the weight of the tree stand but would break as soon as additional weight was applied to them, having a trap door effect,” said MDNR conservation officer Josh Boudreaux. “The victim would have fallen 15 to 20 feet to the ground.”
After being confronted by law enforcement officers from MDNR and the university, Steele confessed to the sabotage. He entered a guilty plea to charges of misdemeanors of aggravated assault and hunter harassment, Steele served a 60-day jail sentence and was ordered to pay for the hunter's medical expenses.
He was also placed on probation for a year and had his hunting privileges revoked. Since Michigan is a member of the Interstate Wildlife Violator’s Compact, his hunting rights were also revoked in most other states, including Ohio.
First Published January 30, 2023, 3:55 p.m.
