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.

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.

Gatz “said that he knew about current fire restrictions but had to have fire to eat”, 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.

Notes from officers’ previous encounters with Gatz earlier this year, submitted into the court docket, state that authorities observed “trash 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”.

During an encounter with Gatz in May, officers reported observing “approximately 1,000 pounds of trash” 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 site had been left unattended by Gatz the previous day while still hot.

In a separate report filed by law enforcement from an encounter in February, one officer wrote that “upon arrival at the camp, I was flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area”.

Investigators said that during that encounter, the debris consisted of three ladders, six to eight totes “overfilled with debris”, five 55-gallon drums, eight tires, multiple bicycle frames, 5 gallons of motor oil, plywood and other “miscellaneous lumber”, 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.

In a separate report from July 2025, officers said they observed what they described as a “large messy campsite” while patrolling the area due to complaints “from the district office abut one large messy camp”.

“There was roughly half an acre of resources ruined due to so much trash and goods on the ground for an extended period of time,” the officer wrote.

This week, after Gatz pleaded guilty, he was sentenced to time served and three years of probation, according to court records.

A representative for Gatz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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03-06-18-23-27-32

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What time is the Powerball drawing?

Powerball drawings are at 7:59 p.m. Arizona time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

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In Arizona, Powerball tickets cost $2 per game, according to the Arizona Lottery.

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PAGE, ARIZ., – A suspect has been arrested after two people were found shot to death inside a home near the Arizona-Utah border.

What we know:

On July 5 at 11:30 p.m., the Page Police and Fire Communications Center responded to a report that two people had been shot near Elm and El Camino.

Once at the home, officers found a man and a woman with gunshot wounds. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

“The suspect was unknown and not on scene when officers arrived,” police said.

Dig deeper:

Police secured the home and obtained a search warrant. Investigators then began processing the crime scene.

“Evidence collected provided investigators with a person of interest who may have been present when the shootings occurred,” police said. “Investigators located the person of interest and interviewed him but did not initially charge him with any crimes related to the double homicide investigation.”

The next day, the person of interest was arrested and booked into jail. He’s accused of two counts of first-degree murder.

What we don’t know:

No identities were released. Police didn’t release any details on what led up to the shooting.

Local perspective:

Police “do not believe there is any remaining threat to the community, as the alleged suspect and the weapon allegedly used have been seized by law enforcement.”

What you can do:

If anyone has information related to the investigation, they advise contacting Detective Terry TerEick at ttereick@pageaz.gov.

Map of the cross streets where the shooting occurred: