Two Brothers Arrested for Timber Theft

A couple of DeSoto Parish brothers are in trouble with the law. Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry investigators have arrested 53-year-old Jerry Whitaker of Mansfield and 44-year-old Ricky Whitaker of Shreveport on felony timber theft charges in two unrelated cases. Jerry is accused of failing to pay a landowner for over 100 loads of timber valued at more than $112,000. He was hired to log a large tract of timber near Frierson from January through December 2009. His brother Ricky was arrested back in November for allegedly failing to pay a landowner for 19 loads of timber valued at just over $12,000.