A federal judge ordered a Jefferson County man to repay the U.S. Forest Service $84,000 for stealing as many as 100 trees from Olympic National Forest.
Reid Johnston previously had been sentenced to a year in federal prison in one of the largest timber-theft prosecutions in Washington history. After a lengthy restitution hearing on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Bryan came up with the figure, taking into account both the market value of the timber, as well as the ecological value of the stolen trees.
At least one of the trees was an old-growth fir, six feet in diameter. Others included intricately patterned maple that often is used to make musical instruments.