A missing sex offender was located and arrested in the Atchafalaya Basin Thursday, found “living off the land” by U.S. Marshals, according to police records.
Brian Schaller, 51, was convicted of receipt of child pornography in 2016 and had active outstanding warrants in both Tangipahoa and East Baton Rouge Parishes.
Schaller was wanted in Tangipahoa for sexual battery and oral sexual battery and for failure to register as a sex offender in East Baton Rouge, authorities said in a WBRZ report.
Schaller was located in a homemade hut constructed out of tree limbs, tarps and paracord.
He told authorities he had been living near Sherburne Wildlife Management Area in a swamp and eating small game and rodents that he caught with traps around his hut.
Marshals had to hike a mile into the swamp to locate Schaller’s makeshift encampment.