KROTZ SPRINGS — A wanted sex offender living “off the land” in the Atchafalaya Basin was arrested Thursday by U.S. Marshals task force, according to law enforcement records.
Brian Schaller, 51, was convicted in 2016 of receipt of child pornography. He had an active warrant in Tangipahoa Parish for sexual battery and oral sexual battery, and an active warrant in East Baton Rouge Parish for failure to register as a sex offender, the U.S. Marshals office said.
Agents said they found Schaller living deep in the Atchafalaya Basin in a hut that had been made from tree limbs, tarps and paracord. Schaller said he had been living in the swamp near the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area since January and survived off small game and rodents that he caught in traps set up around the camp.