Wanted sex offender, 51, who was caught with child porn is found sleeping in Louisiana swamp living off rats he hunted with makeshift spear

A wanted sex offender was found living in a shelter made of sticks and tarpaulins deep in a Louisiana swamp and eating rats he hunted with a makeshift spear.

Brian Schaller, 51, was convicted in 2016 of distributing child pornography and had active arrest warrants for sexual assault and violating terms of the sex offender registry.

Earlier this month, U.S. Marshals received a tip that he was living in the Atchafalaya Basin, east of Lafayette, and tracked him to his encampment deep in the swamp.

He turned himself in and told police he had been living there since January, catching small animals and rodents in traps and killing them with a makeshift spear for food.

Schaller had built a ramshackle cabin out of stacked branches covered with a tarp and held together with parachute cords and even created an alarm system out of string and old cans.

Schaller had an active arrest warrant from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for allegedly violating the terms of its sex offender registry and from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Department for sexual assault and oral sexual assault.

The shelter was made of branches stacked together and covered with trash bags and a tarp.

According to a release from the Marshals Service, Schaller was initially charged in 2015 with distribution of child pornography.

They said he also has an active arrest warrant from the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for violating the terms of its sex offender registry and from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office for sexual assault and assault oral sex.

On March 12, officers were informed that Schaller was living at the bottom of the swamp.

They assembled a team of uniformed officers, boats and even dog teams to track him down.

Then, on March 14, the team began searching the swamp and found Schaller’s shelter a mile away.

They surrounded him and ordered him to get out. They said, “Schaller complied with verbal commands and was taken into custody without incident.”

Photos of the camp show a rudimentary shelter made of sawed branches piled on top of each other and covered with trash bags and a tarp.

On the side of the shelter, he had hung a clothesline still covered with clothes.

Schaller said he had lived there since January, surviving on small animals and rats that he killed with traps and a makeshift spear.

He had made a basket from small branches and even created an early warning system using string and old cans.

Officers also found a makeshift spear, with a kitchen knife blade attached to a stick with string.

Schaller also made a basket from small branches.

The marshals said, “Schaller had several small game traps along the trails around his camp, made from paracord and small branches that he had gathered.

“Schaller had also deployed an early warning system made from string and aluminum cans.

“Schaller told investigators he had been living off the land since about January and subsisting on small game and rodents.”

Schaller was first arrested in December 2014 on 500 counts of possession of child pornography and his bail was set at $51 million.