Man pleads guilty to destruction of historic cabin - East Idaho News
Idaho

Man pleads guilty to destruction of historic cabin

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Footage of Trapper Cabin from 2011.

The following is a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho on Tuesday.

BOISE – Jason Reed, 22, of Boise, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States Magistrate Court to destruction of government property, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Reed was charged by an information filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Reed admitted that in August of 2015, he caused extensive damage to the Trapper Cabin.

He broke out the cabin’s windows, wrapped a winch cable from his father’s ATV around the deck of the cabin, and pulled the deck off its foundation.

The Trapper Cabin is a government owned historic property located at the French Creek Trailhead on the McCall Ranger District of the Payette National Forest, in Valley County, Idaho.

Reed advised Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush that he broke out the cabin’s windows, wrapped a winch cable from his father’s ATV around the deck of the cabin, and pulled the deck off its foundation. He then admitted to wrapping the winch cable around a log on the corner of the cabin and pulled the two bottom logs, causing the cabin to partially collapse.

The Trapper Cabin was built in 1936 and is one of two cabins left in Idaho that were built and utilized for predatory control by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It was built in the Rocky Mountain style log cabin, using peeled lodge pole pine logs and mud chinking. It is the only cabin on the Payette National Forest that was built in this style. Prior to the damage caused by Reed, the cabin was in good condition and was eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The cost to restore the cabin is $31,919.20. Reed has agreed to provide restitution in full.

The charge of destruction of government property is a class A misdemeanor and is punishable by up to one year in prison, one year of supervised release, and a fine of up to $100,000.

Reed is scheduled to be sentenced on November 14, 2016, before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush at the federal courthouse in Boise.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Forest Service.

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