Firewood Theft Leads To Arson, Arrest Made
LA Department of Agriculture & Forestry
The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s (LDAF) fire crews responded to a wildfire on Gitty Up Lane in Leblanc on March 11. The investigation revealed that the fire was an act of arson, and it was set close to where someone had been cutting down hardwood trees for firewood.
As a result of the investigation by the LDAF enforcement agents, it was learned that twenty-four-year-old Bradley Ashworth of Kinder, La., and forty-seven-year-old Lance Templet of Iowa, La., went onto the property without permission and cut timber for firewood to sell at a later date. While Ashworth cut the firewood, Templet set a fire. The fire burned approximately 76 acres of timber.