At night or through deception, suspects are gaining entrance to property, with or without the owner s consent, then removing paulownia trees. Paulownia trees, a non-native species to Maryland, is a highly valued wood. It is used in the Orient for ornate boxes, religious trinkets and medicinal purposes. Once on the property, along Allentown Road, a fence was torn down, trees were uprooted, four paulownia trees were removed, sawed into logs and taken. Through investigation, it was discovered that the paulownia logs were sold to the Wheeler Logging Company, located in Orange County, Virginia.
Police report there have been four active paulownia theft investigations in the last two months.
Three of those have been on private property. Investigators believe the cases are part of an organized attempt at targeting paulownias.