Arizona Man Arrested After 8 Years in Tonto Forest With 1,000 Pounds of Trash
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Jul 7
Arizona Man Arrested After 8 Years in Tonto Forest With 1,000 Pounds of Trash
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Jul 7
Summary
Mark Aaron Gatz, 65, was arrested June 25 after officers found he had been living for eight years in Tonto National Forest behind a half-ton trash barricade.
Complaints about large structures and years of debris scattered across roughly an acre led forest officers to investigate the popular recreation area and locate him.
Six outstanding arrest warrants and alleged violations including overstaying camping limits, living on forest grounds and damaging U.S. property helped keep Gatz detained as a potential flight risk.
Federal filings described the site as possibly one of the worst residential cases an officer had seen; an earlier report said the case also involved a fire during Stage 2 restrictions and could bring up to five years in prison.