FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 2, 2006
(Columbia, SC) A Columbia man is charged with fraud associated with a Calhoun County timber deal. Forestry Commission agents arrested Joey Calvin Ouzts, 38, for breach of trust with fraudulent intent.
Agents said Ouzts contracted with a St. Matthews landowner to cut some timber in 2005. Ouzts was to cut the timber, sell it to a mill, and pay the landowner based on mill receipts.
Mill records show that Ouzts received full payment for the wood, but agents said he then knowingly issued the landowner two worthless checks totaling more than $2500. After more than a year, the landowner’s attempts to collect netted only one small payment.
Ouzts was arrested Monday at a Richland County logging site and booked into the Orangeburg-Calhoun Regional Detention Center. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Timber theft and timber fraud cost SC landowners millions of dollars each year. Timber transaction crime should be reported to Forestry Commission law enforcement, 803-896-8820.
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Legal Reference:
SC Code 16-13-230 (B)(2), Breach of Trust w/Fraudulent Intent
This release reports an arrest. All subjects should be considered innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law.