Lawmen swiftly solve case of missing log cabin; was its removal from homesite a crime?
In what may be a unique crime in the local vicinity, an Oregon sheriff’s department was asked this week to investigate the case of a missing log cabin.
Someone had jacked up the 1,500-square-foot modern structure, including a deck, off its foundation and removed it to an unknown location. But seasoned lawmen at the Klamath County Sheriff’s Department soon found the missing cabin, relying on information from a network of sources and old-fashioned legwork, reports the Oregonian.
The cabin had been removed to another site not far from where it was built. The man who moved it thought he was doing so legitimately, after purchasing the cabin. However, it isn’t clear whether the seller had the authority to enter into the transaction, the newspaper recounts.
Three adults had lived on a property in the unincorporated Sprague River area that originally contained only a single conventional home. The real estate was owned by one man, but another man paid to construct a log cabin on the property. The cabin-builder eventually sold the structure to the man who moved it.
“It’s a mess,” sheriff’s detective Eric Shepherd told the newspaper, explaining that an investigation is ongoing to determine if any crime has been committed or whether disputed ownership of the cabin is a civil matter.
“We have an open investigation. We know where the cabin is,” Shepherd said. “We know it’s not going anywhere–well, hopefully, not again.”
