A Palm Beach County man has been arrested and charged with illegally dumping debris in a Lehigh Acres area.

The man, Barbaro Montesdeoca, 38, of 4403 Anna Lane, West Palm Beach, was charged with felony dumping in excess of 500 pounds, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

On Feb. 7, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint from a Lehigh Acres resident who noticed a blue Freightliner dump truck driving down Hamilton Avenue near his home. The resident thought the activity was unusual and suspicious because there was no construction in his area.

The Lehigh man reportedly followed in his car and witnessed the dump truck parked on a wooded lot midway down a short block. According to the Sheriff’s Office, a short time later, the dump truck pulled out of the woods and the resident observed a large pile of debris that had not been there minutes before. The man then followed the truck and wrote down the truck’s tag number.

The Sheriff’s Office said deputies arrived to find a large pile of debris in the trees, measuring about 35 feet long by 13 feet wide and standing between 3 and 5 feet in height. In the debris were boxes with addresses and phone numbers from Palm Beach County.

A Lee County deputy traced the vehicle to a person named Barbaro Montesdeoca residing in Palm Beach County. The deputy was assisted by the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, which sent a deputy to the suspect’s address. The Palm Beach deputy instructed Montesdeoca to call the Lee County deputy, which he did. While on the phone, Montesdeoca made a spontaneous utterance that he had brought a load of debris from his home in Palm Beach County to Lehigh Acres, where he dumped it. Montesdeoca stated he would return and clean up the debris. No consideration or deal was made between the deputy or Montesdeoca.

The truck was also seized for forfeiture.