Unauthorized cutting, removal, transportation, etc., of timber or other forest products.

(a) It is unlawful for any person or persons to do any of the following:

(1) Willfully and knowingly cut, kill, destroy, girdle, chop, chip, saw or otherwise damage timber or forest products not his own or without authority of the legal owner.

(2) Willfully and knowingly remove timber or other forest products other than his own or without authority of the legal owner.

(3) Willfully and knowingly transport timber or other forest products which have been severed or removed in violation of subdivision (1) or (2).

(4) Willfully and knowingly purchase or contract to purchase or otherwise obtain timber or forest products severed, removed or transported in violation of subdivision (1), (2), or (3).

(5) Willfully and knowingly sell, contract to sell or otherwise dispose of logs, poles, piling, crossties, pulpwood, veneer bolts, staves, or other unmanufactured or semimanufactured forest products not his or her own or without authority of the legal owner.

(6) Alter or by any means cause a weight measuring device to give a false reading as to the actual or true weight of any forest products for the purpose of deceiving or defrauding any person, firm, or corporation.

(7) Willfully and knowingly remove timber or other forest products of another by means of deception, as defined in Section 13A-8-1.

(b) A violation of subsection (a) is a Class A misdemeanor and shall be punished as provided by law.

(c) This section shall not apply to any utility or corporation engaged in providing electric service. Nor shall it apply to the employees, contractors, agents, or representatives of a utility or corporation engaged in providing electric service where such employees, contractors, agents, or representatives are acting within the course and scope of their employment, contract, or agency.

(Acts 1939, No. 626, p. 993, §1; Code 1940, T. 8, §218(1); Act 2010-704, p. 1706, §1; Act 2012-428, p. 1168, §1.)