{"id":5212,"date":"2026-07-08T15:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/07\/08\/arizona-man-pleads-guilty-after-illegally-living-in-forest-for-years-among-1000lbs-of-trash\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:01:08","slug":"arizona-man-pleads-guilty-after-illegally-living-in-forest-for-years-among-1000lbs-of-trash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=5212","title":{"rendered":"Arizona man pleads guilty after illegally living in forest for years among \u20181,000lbs of trash\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"c980df4d-b4dd-4341-8634-4328fb603dbd\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"landscape view of a desert and a forest\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/75ad58a5c961abcf028960455b2aaf04c83632ad\/0_0_5000_3335\/master\/5000.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"310.15500000000003\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">The Sonoran desert in the Tonto national forest, on 1 March 2026, outside Superior, Arizona.<\/span> Photograph: Andrew Lichtenstein\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"c980df4d-b4dd-4341-8634-4328fb603dbd\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">The Sonoran desert in the Tonto national forest, on 1 March 2026, outside Superior, Arizona.<\/span> Photograph: Andrew Lichtenstein\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">Arizona man pleads guilty after illegally living in forest for years among \u20181,000lbs of trash\u2019<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Mark Gatz was arrested at illegal campsite in June and had faced multiple citations for residing in Tonto national forest<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A man in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/arizona\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Arizona<\/a> has pleaded guilty to violating federal fire restrictions and unlawfully residing in a national forest, after authorities said he spent years living at a makeshift campsite surrounded by what officials described as \u201capproximately 1,000 pounds of trash\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Mark Aaron Gatz was arrested on 25 June at his illegal campsite in Arizona\u2019s Tonto national forest, according to court records. A United States Forest Service (USFS) officer wrote in documents submitted to court that Gatz had been operating an \u201cillegal campsite\u201d with a \u201chot wood burning campfire\u201d despite fire restrictions and that he had told investigators that he had been living in the forest for about eight years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The officer wrote that a records check found that Gatz had previously received multiple citations and was the subject of six outstanding federal arrest warrants for earlier violations, including for building fires during fire restrictions, constructing on national forest service lands, unsanitary conditions and occupying national forest as a residence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Gatz \u201csaid that he knew about current fire restrictions but had to have fire to eat\u201d, authorities said. The documents show that USFS officers made contact with Gatz multiple times over the last year or so, and issued him warnings as well as a violation notice for having campfires during fire restrictions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Notes from officers\u2019 previous encounters with Gatz earlier this year, submitted into the court docket, state that authorities observed \u201ctrash such as clothing, pans, tools, and plastic cups scattered throughout the campsite along with a structure that was four feet in height build using wood panels\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">During an encounter with Gatz in May, officers reported observing \u201capproximately 1,000 pounds of trash\u201d at the site, which they said included tires, plastic bags, trash bags, aluminum cans, and other items. They also wrote that they found that the campfire that had been left unattended by Gatz the previous day while still hot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In a separate report filed by law enforcement from an encounter in February, one officer wrote that \u201cupon arrival at the camp, I was flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Investigators said that during that encounter, the debris consisted of three ladders, six to eight totes \u201coverfilled with debris\u201d, five 55-gallon drums, eight tires, multiple bicycle frames, 5 gallons of motor oil, plywood and other \u201cmiscellaneous lumber\u201d, and they wrote that trash was scattered over approximately half an acre of forest service land and creating what officers described as public safety concerns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In a separate report from July 2025, officers said they observed what they described as a \u201clarge messy campsite\u201d while patrolling the area due to complaints \u201cfrom the district office abut one large messy camp.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThere was roughly half an acre of resources ruined due to so much trash and goods on the ground for an extended period of time,\u201d the officer wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">This week, after Gatz pleaded guilty, he was sentenced to time served and three years of probation, according to court records.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A representative for Gatz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/arizona\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Arizona<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-crime\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US crime<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Arizona%20man%20pleads%20guilty%20after%20illegally%20living%20in%20forest%20for%20years%20among%20%E2%80%981,000lbs%20of%20trash%E2%80%99&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jul\/08\/arizona-man-pleads-guilty-living-in-forest-trash?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fjul%2F08%2Farizona-man-pleads-guilty-living-in-forest-trash&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/jul\/08\/arizona-man-pleads-guilty-living-in-forest-trash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sonoran desert in the Tonto national forest, on 1 March 2026, outside Superior, Arizona. Photograph: Andrew Lichtenstein\/Corbis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}