Allegheny Wood Products owner charged with theft, trial date set

MOOREFIELD, W.Va. (WHSV) – The owners of a longtime West Virginia lumber company were charged with theft Tuesday in Hardy County Circuit Court. John Crites Sr., John Crites Jr. and Kelly Crites are the owners of Allegheny Wood Products, which closed back in February.

The three family members are accused of not paying the loggers for the logs purchased by the company. They are each charged with 12 crimes in six cases in which they are accused of defrauding loggers. In two of these cases, the logs that the company allegedly purchased for free were valued at over $20,000.

The Criteses are each charged with six counts of obtaining money by false pretenses and six counts of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretenses.

Tuesday’s arraignment was conducted by a specially appointed Berkeley County judge after two Hardy County judges voluntarily recused themselves from the case. The judge set a personal recognizance bond of $5,000 for each family member.

The three Criteses all had their own lawyers and each of them sought a speedy trial in the matter. Kelly’s attorney said during the hearing that he plans to file a motion to dismiss the charges in the future.

The attorney called the case “an egregious exploitation of the criminal process” and said the Criteses wanted their day in court.

The judge scheduled a pretrial in the case for December 23 at 9 a.m. and a trial date for January 21, 2025.

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