U.S. NEWS
Man found amid 1,000 pounds of trash in national forest said he’d lived on parkland for 8 years

Mark Aaron Gatz had been warned about the trash and about building illegal fires before he was arrested, according to court documents.


————— The Sonoran Desert in Tonto National Forest in Arizona. Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images file

July 8, 2026, 12:19 AM EDT
By Dennis Romero

A man amassed around 1,000 pounds of trash at a campsite in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest, where, he told police, he’d been living for eight years, according to court documents. … Mark Aaron Gatz pleaded guilty Monday to violating fire restrictions and unlawful residential use of a federal forest as part of a plea agreement.

Under a judgment filed Tuesday, he was sentenced to three months of probation and ordered to pay $20 in criminal penalties — avoiding restitution of up to $5,000 to the U.S. Forest Service — and he agreed to avoid visiting national forests in Arizona and using cannabis. … His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night. An assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona did not immediately respond to a request for information.

Gatz was arrested June 25 and ordered held for trial, according to federal case files. He was initially charged with building illegal fires, overstaying time limits for camping, leaving trash in unsanitary conditions and related counts as part of an 18-count federal indictment.

“Defendant has been living illegally on the U.S.F.S. lands and has violated fire restrictions despite prior warnings and citations for doing so,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Camille D. Bibles wrote in a June 30 order.

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