CONCORD — A New London logger must pay nearly $32,000 in restitution and fines, and received a suspended prison sentence for not paying a landowner for timber harvested on a New Boston, N.H., property.
Stephen O’Neill of O’Neill Timber Harvesting in New London pleaded guilty and was convicted of a deceptive forestry business practices in Hillsborough County Superior Court, according to court records. He was ordered to pay $27,022 in restitution and fined nearly $5,000.
O’Neill, 51, was indicted by a Hillsborough County grand jury last year. He was accused of buying and selling timber to a Connecticut sawmill without paying LandVest, the owner of the New Boston property where he harvested the timber in 2022.
Both O’Neill and LandVest had a signed contract for the work, FPB said.
“The Deceptive Forestry Business Practices Law is very important because it requires there to be a contract between loggers and landowners for a timber harvest that is signed in advance, with all payment details clearly laid out,” Chief Steven Sherman of the Forest Protection Bureau in the N.H. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources said in a news release.
“Having a clear written agreement on forest product prices and how payment will be made prior to starting the harvest is necessary for the protection of everyone involved.”