Court wields the axe on illegal harvesters: Harvesting Crown timber without licence nets hefty fine for Sudbury-area man.

A man and a numbered company were ordered to pay $65,000 in fines and fees for unlawfully harvesting Crown timber under the Crown Forest Sustainability Act.

Two other men received suspended sentences. Justice of the Peace Michael Kitlar heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice on July 13 in Sudbury.

Darrel Christensen and Ingolf Christensen, both of Hagar, east of Sudbury; Nicolas Krucker of Hanmer, a Sudbury suburb; and a numbered company, 874-1859 Canada Inc., pleaded guilty to unlawfully harvesting timber in a Crown forest without the required forest resource licence.

Darrel Christensen was fined $25,000, Ingolf Christensen and Krucker each received a suspended sentence, and the numbered company was ordered to pay the $40,000 stumpage fee of the harvested timber.

Court heard that on Oct. 31,2016, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry staff received a public...