Published: June 24, 2009 10:14 am      

Blair County logger faces 21 new timber theft charges

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County logger serving four to nine years in prison for stealing timber now faces 21 new charges.

Thirty-eight-year-old Francis Ritchey, of Claysburg, was sentenced last year after pleading guilty to theft and not paying state income taxes from 2003 to 2005.

Ritchey still owes about $490,000 in to those victims, and now a state grand jury says Ritchey allegedly stole from six other property owners in Blair, Cambria and Somerset counties.

Ritchey is charged with six counts each of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, four counts each of theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, and one count of criminal mischief.

Investigators say Ritchey stole the timber or didn’t pay as much as promised.

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Information from: Altoona Mirror, http://www.altoonamirror.com