ARANSAS COUNTY, Texas — While littering can come with some hefty consequences, one Rockport man ended up paying more than just a citation.
77-year-old George Bradford Coleman is currently in the Aransas County Jail on five felony charges of illegal dumping that stretch back to 2020.
Coleman lives on a property along State Highway Business 35 on the southside of Rockport, Texas. Most people around town know it as the Tortuga Club. Coleman was indicted by an Aransas County grand jury on March 10, and was arrested Thursday.
Captain Nathan Anderson with the Rockport Police Department said that littering is not something to take lightly.
"The Rockport Police Department and the City of Rockport City Codes Department, and the citizens of this community, have been dealing with the trash and the site that you see as you drive into the City of Rockport," Anderson said. "On this piece of property that Mr. Coleman owns. And it's been going on for many many years."
Anderson said that the County wasted no time in penalizing Coleman for not being in compliance with the City's regulations.
"We presented the case to the County Attorney's Office and the County Attorney's Office presented that case to an Aransas County grand jury that did return with five indictments of illegal dumping over 1,000 pounds," Anderson said.
Coleman is accused of not only turning his property into one big junkyard, but illegally dumping in several of his neighbors' properties as well. According to Anderson, the City had given Coleman chance after chance to clean up his act but it never happened.
"We recently started an investigation on the property after not getting any cooperation from him through our Code Enforcement Department to clean up the debris and the piles of trash," Anderson said. "Trash and property that's been moved on to other people's private property."
Anderson said tons of trash from junked RV's to lawnmowers and construction material were left everywhere.
Coleman is in jail on a $100,000 bond.
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