Arizona man pleads guilty after illegally living in forest for years among ‘1,000lbs of trash’

Mark Gatz was arrested at illegal campsite in June and had faced multiple citations for residing in Tonto national forest

A man in Arizona 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 approximately 1,000 pounds of trash".

Mark Aaron Gatz was arrested on 25 June at his illegal campsite in Arizona's 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 illegal campsite" with a hot wood burning campfire" despite fire restrictions and that he had told investigators that he had been living in the forest for about eight years.