The owner of a Deerfield logging company has been arraigned on 52 separate felony charges for allegedly destroying or hiding receipts related to timber harvests.
Prosecutors accuse Jason Curtis, owner of Jason Curtis Outdoor Services, of instructing an office worker to destroy scale slips, which detail the amount of wood harvested from a landowner’s property.
By under reporting the amount of timber harvested, prosecutors allege landowners hired by Curtis would have then underpaid the timber tax owed to the town where the harvest took place.
Court records show the timber was cut at multiple locations over a three year period.
Curtis was indicted by a Merrimack grand jury in October on 25 counts of conspiracy to commit tax evasion and 25 counts of conspiracy to commit perjury in a tax report. He is also accused of falsifying evidence and witness tampering.
He was arraigned this week in Superior Court, where he entered a not guilty plea. He was released on personal recognizance.
