WARREN, Mich. – A massive mess in Warren was finally cleaned up after neighbors said it was left there for months.
The owner of a blighted house on Los Angeles Street in Warren said he has a problem and things became too much to handle.
To get an idea of how big the problem is, Warren Blight Busters ordered three full-size dumpsters to haul away the trash from the yard.
Rich Strauss, 66, said he bought the house last year, but it ended up rundown.
"Not only did I have a massive bone infection where I had to walk with an IV for two months, then I turned around and had a hell of a bad heart attack," Strauss said.
He doesn't live at the home. He said he bought it for his girlfriend.
Strauss racked up a couple thousand dollars in blight fines. Warren Mayor Jim Fouts said the city tried to give him leeway, but the piles of trash stacked up so high he had to get a cleanup order that sent inspectors and city employees out to declutter on a grand scale.
"You can see that garage is chock-full," Fouts said. "The house is full, and he's just a hoarder, an extreme hoarder, and it's creating a problem in the neighborhood."
When asked if he is a hoarder, Strauss said yes.
Neighbors complained about rats, in particular. Strauss said he used to be a contractor and had big plans to build a four-car garage in the backyard. He'd planted pine trees in front, but they're too tall, according to city ordinances, so they were moved to the backyard.
"Am I happy about it? No," Strauss said. "But I kind of deserved it, too, when you think about it, even though I couldn't function."
Strauss is an Army veteran and said he isn't going to allow the city's action to deter him. He said he still plans to rehabilitate the house, but his health is still causing trouble.