Two men have been arrested following a two-month long investigation into the theft of timber/firewood from a local forest management company.
On November 12, 2019, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the Green Diamond Resource Company regarding ongoing trespassing and theft at their property located on Bald Mountain Road near Korbel.
According to the company, two men, later identified as 39-year-old Nicholas Scott Cringle and 44-year-old Corey Brent Holsinger, had been captured multiple times on the company’s surveillance footage hauling truckloads of timber from the property. The company reported that the two men had cut a lock on the property’s access gate to gain entry and then illegally harvested approximately 30 madrone trees on the property.
During their investigation, Sheriff’s deputies learned that over the months of November and December Cringle and Holsinger sold approximately 5.5 cords of the stolen firewood to a local lumber business. As a result of this investigation, a Ramey warrant was issued for both Cringle and Holsinger’s arrests.
On Dec. 31, 2019, at about 10:28 p.m., Sheriff’s deputies located Cringle during a traffic stop on the 700 block of Casino Way in Blue Lake.
Cringle was arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on the following charges: grand theft (PC 487(a)), conspiracy to commit a crime (PC 182(a)), cutting down standing or growing timber on lands of another (PC 602(a)), carrying away any timber lying on the land of another (PC 602(b)), willfully opening any gate without written permission of the owner (PC 602(i)), entering any land and removing or tampering with any lock or gate (PC 602(l)(3)), driving any vehicle on the property of another not open to the public (PC 602(n)), willfully cutting/removing plant material without a written permit (PC 384a(a)(2)), removing forest products without a permit (PC 384.5(a)(1)) and required fire tool within 25 feet of a power saw (PRC 4431), in addition to a warrant for driving on a suspended license (VC 14601.1(a)).
On Jan. 6, 2020, at about 6:45 a.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s Special Services deputies served a search warrant at a property on the 200 block of Maple Creek Road in Korbel to follow up on investigative leads in this case. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, CAL FIRE and Humboldt County Code Enforcement assisted in the service of this warrant.
During the service of the warrant, deputies located and arrested Holsinger. Additionally, deputies located and seized five chainsaws and a pickup truck load of firewood. Numerous Humboldt County Code and Fish and Wildlife violations were discovered on the property.
Holsinger was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on the following charges: grand theft (PC 487(a)), conspiracy to commit a crime (PC 182(a)), cutting down standing or growing timber on lands of another (PC 602(a)), carrying away any timber lying on the land of another (PC 602(b)), willfully opening any gate without written permission of the owner (PC 602(i)), entering any land and removing or tampering with any lock or gate (PC 602(l)(3)), driving any vehicle on the property of another not open to the public (PC 602(n)), willfully cutting/removing plant material without a written permit (PC 384a(a)(2)), removing forest products without a permit (PC 384.5(a)(1)) and required fire tool within 25 feet of a power saw (PRC 4431), in addition to warrants for vehicle theft (PC 10851(a)), possession of a stolen vehicle (PC 496d(a)), special allegation of previous felony conviction (PC 1203(e)(4)) and possession of a controlled substance (HS 11377(a)).
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at 707-445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at 707-268-2539.
For more information regarding timber harvest laws and forestry planning, contact CAL FIRE at 707- 725-4413.
Corey Brent Holsinger
Nicholas Scott Cringle
Stolen lumber discovered during search warrant