June 10, 2021 at 1:12 p.m.
Backus man found guilty in tree-spiking incident
In November 2009, Cass County Lake Department employees discovered over 500 tree had been spiked with six-inch long ring shank pole barn nails. The perpetrators had left a crudely made sign posted on a tree near a gated entrance to the county property. The sign read "2 in each tree!" with a smiley face drawn next to the wording.
Cass County Sheriff's Department followed up on leads provided by the public. Their investigation led to the discovery of Stephen Olson's roll in planning and executing the tree spiking.[[In-content Ad]]At trial, the jury heard evidence that Olson wa angry that red pine trees on county land were going to be logged. Olson's tipping point came when he found out on Oct. 31, 2009, from a person camping on the county land that loggers would begin the work their the next day. Olson became angry and made statements to the camper that he was going to spike the trees to prevent the logging. Over the next week, Olson and two teenage boys with significant ties to Olson, and co-defendants in the case, pounded pole barn nails into the trees.
The spikes posed a significant risk of danger to logging equipment and loggers. After the spiking occurred, Cass County, due to safety concerns, had to sell the entire stand of spiked trees (165 cords). The highest bid came in at $21.52 per cord. Before the spiking, the county planned to only harvest a limited portion of the stand 14.6 cords, to the high bidder at $77.50 per cord. The spiking resulted in well over the statutory threshold of $1,000 in damages to the county.
Following the guilty verdict, Olson was remanded to the custody of the Cass County Sheriff and will remain incarcerated until his Oct. 18, 2010 sentencing with Judge John P. Smith. Assistant County Attorney Aaron K. Jordan was the prosecutor assigned to the case.
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