A wanted sex offender was found living in a stick and tarpaulin shelter deep in a Louisiana swamp and eating rats that he hunted with a makeshift spear.
Brian Schaller, 51, was convicted in 2016 for distribution of child porn and had active warrants for sexual battery and violating the terms of the sex offenders’ registry.
Earlier this month, US Marshals received a tip-off that he was living in the Atchafalaya Basin, East of Lafayette, and tracked him down to his encampment, deep in the swamp.
He surrendered himself and told officers he had been living there since January, catching small animals and rodents in traps and killing them with a makeshift spear for food.
Schaller had made a dilapidated hut out of stacked branches, covered with a tarp and held together with parachute cords and even created an alarm system with string and old cans.
Marshals received a tip-off that wanted sex offender Brian Schaller was living in a shelter in the Louisiana swamp
Schaller had an active warrant from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for allegedly violating the terms of his sex offender registry and from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s for felony sexual battery and felony oral sexual battery
The shelter was made of branches stacked together and covered in trash bags and tarp
According to a release from the Marshals Service, Schaller was initially indicted in 2015 for distribution of child pornography.
They said he also had an active warrant from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for violating the terms of his sex offender registry and from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office for felony sexual battery and felony oral sexual battery.
On March 12, officers received a tip-off that Schaller was living deep in the swamp.
They put together a team of uniformed officers, boats and even canine teams to track him.
Then on March 14, the team started searching the swamp and found Schaller’s shelter a mile-in.
They surrounded it and ordered him to come out, they said: ‘Schaller complied with the verbal commands and was taken into custody without incident.’
Photos of the camp show a rudimentary shelter made from sawn off branches stacked on top of each other and covered over with trash bags and a tarpaulin.
To the side of the shelter he had strung a washing line which was still covered in clothes.
Schaller said he had been living there since January, surviving off small animals and rats that he killed with traps and a makeshift spear
He had fashioned a basked out of small branches and had even created an early-warning system using string and old cans
Officers also found a make shift spear, with a kitchen knife blade fastened to a stick with twine.
Schaller had also made a basket out of small branches.
The Marshals said: ‘Schaller had several small game traps along the trails around his encampment, made from paracord and small limbs he had gathered.
‘Schaller had also deployed an early warning system made from string and aluminum cans.
‘Schaller told investigators he had been living off the land since approximately January and that he had been living off small game and rodents.’
Schaller was first arrested in December 2014 on 500 counts of child pornography possession and his bond was set at $51 million.
