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Suspect identified in trailer dumping case A man has been arrested for allegedly dumping this trash-filled trailer on Dalton and Ruth Straus' property outside Central Point. The trailer has since disappeared, Dalton Straus said. [Jackson County Sheriff's Office Photo] Wednesday Jan 17, 2018 at 3:59 PM Jan 17, 2018 at 6:35 PM Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune @VickieAldous The Jackson County Sheriff's Office has identified a suspect in the case of a garbage-filled travel trailer dumped in a private driveway in the middle of the night. David Wayne Regula, 63, of the 1000 block of Comet Way in Central Point, was arrested and jailed on charges of third-degree criminal mischief, offensive littering and abandoning a vehicle. The case has been referred to the Jackson County District Attorney's Office. Last week, Regula allegedly left a broken-down, garbage-filled recreational vehicle with flat tires in the driveway of local ranchers Dalton and Ruth Straus, who live outside Central Point. The license plate had been removed from the RV. Under Oregon law, private property owners are responsible for cleaning up garbage dumped illegally on their land. The couple faced a hefty clean-up bill to remove the garbage from the trailer and pay landfill disposal fees. Appliances and other equipment must also be stripped from RVs and disposed of before the metal frame can be scrapped. Dalton Straus said the sheriff's office sent deputies, who searched the trash inside the trailer for items such as envelopes with addresses that could be used to identify a suspect. The Sheriff's Office also received tips from the public after posting a description and photos of the trailer on its Facebook page. The Mail Tribune publicized the Strauses' plight in an article and through its social media channels. Dalton Straus said the deputies went to Regula's home, allegedly got a confession and took him to jail. Regula is no longer in jail, according to jail records. Dalton Straus said he was at a ranchers meeting this past weekend, and when he got back home in the evening, the garbage-filled trailer was gone. "The guy came back and got the bad tires fixed. He hooked onto it and away he went to wherever. I hope someone else won't be stuck with it," Straus said. While illegal dumping in rural areas has long been a problem, Straus said he thinks it's getting worse because of high disposal fees and restrictions on recycling brought about by China importing less recyclable material. He said he wanted to thank everyone who helped on the case. "They are an absolute miracle in my opinion. I thought we would be stuck with cleaning it up," Straus said. "Everybody put together made good things happen. I hope the public will be watching out for things like this and stop this proliferation of people dumping their junk on other people's property. You see it all over on rural roads. People dump their garbage over the bank and away they go." Straus said he hopes something can be done to lower disposal fees and improve recycling options so people have less incentive to dump trash. "It's only going to get worse before it gets better," he said. — Reach staff reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or [email protected]. Follow her at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous.