BELFAST – A woodcutter has been fined $100 and ordered to make restitution of $32,928 to landowners after pleading guilty to unlawful cutting of trees.

The case against Michael Turner, 43, of Freedom was heard in 5th District Court. Turner was cited for cutting tress on a parcel of land off the Old Sanford Road without the permission of the landowners.

In his June 24 ruling, Judge William Anderson ordered Turner to make restitution to landowners Earl Purnell, Drew Fales and Richard Tingley.

Scott E. Maddox of the Maine Forest Service said the harvesting took place in March.

Maddox said Tuesday that Turner told him he thought he had permission to cut the trees, which were sold as logs and pulp.

Maddox said that while Turner had an agreement with an abutting landowner to harvest wood from his property, he mistakenly cut from the wrong parcel. Maddox noted that Turner was working the Purnell-Fales-Tingley lot when he met with him in response to a complaint from one of the landowners.

“It was a 22-acre trespass,” said Maddox. “He basically cut the trees from the wrong land. He said he was unaware of the boundary line. He did have an agreement to cut wood from an abutting parcel.”

Unlike the theft of $32,000 in goods from a business, unlawful cutting of trees of that value is not considered a felony, according to Maddox.

“The law looks at the woods differently,” he said.