A Skagit County man faces charges for allegedly harvesting timber on land that was not his own.  

Investigators say it's part of a growing trend where anyone with the tools and the time can make a quick buck. 

Plank by plank, mill owner Jack Knight planes out custom hardwood boards.  

"Alder and maple is our two most popular hardwoods," said Knight, owner of Jack's Custom Sawing. 

Last August, he says a man by the name of Willard Jarrells came to sell him some logs. 

"I had just sold a bunch of cedar lumber and was looking for cedar logs," said Knight.  "What he had fit just what I needed."  

He bought them only to get a phone call from a landowner in Big Lake saying Jarrells had stolen them.  In fact, in the past six months Jarrells has been to jail four times for cutting down other people's trees and trying to sell them. But being just a property crime, each time he was let go. 

"How many times you gotta rob a store before you go to jail, right?" asks Knight. 

This isn't an isolated incident, timber thefts across Western Washington are on the rise in part because of the increase in the price of timber.  For example, a 20-foot section of an alder tree goes for about $500. 

"There's a grade of alder that's going for $1,000 - a dollar a board foot," said Knight. 

Alder has become the choice hardwood for many furniture builders. It grows abundantly in the Northwest, giving crooks many an opportunity to cash in. 

"If I didn't have to buy the logs, I'd do pretty good too," said Knight.  "That's basically what he's doin'." 

Prosecutors have charged Jarrells with one count of theft for the logs in Big Lake.  A crime for which Jack Knight says he should be punished.  

"It don't matter, store, bank, somebody's land," said Knight.  "It's still theft." 

Mill owners say it's common practice to buy logs from private sellers, especially after a windstorm or when someone has a tree topped. And they say there's really no way to tell if a tree has been stolen.