Homeless Man Dumps 4 Tons of Trash in Forest

He's going to jail for 6 months as a result
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 20, 2015 10:02 AM CDT
Homeless Man Dumps 4 Tons of Trash in Forest
The trash pile in Colorado's Uncompahgre National Forest near Tulluride.   (US Attorney's Office)

Littering offenses typically don't result in jail sentences, but that changes when more than 4 tons of trash are involved. A 41-year-old homeless man got a six-month jail term this week after leaving about 8,500 pounds of debris around the living quarters he had set up in the Uncompahgre National Forest near Telluride, Colorado, reports the Denver Post. Benjamin Yoho did so between October 2014 and April of this year, reports Fox 31 Denver. It took a 48-person crew with the aid of a helicopter to clean it up. “This was no ordinary case of littering in the National Forest," says US Attorney John Walsh. "This was full-scale trashing of the public lands and merited a term of incarceration." (More littering stories.)

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