Residents living in an Inland Empire city are disgusted by what they say is illegal trash dumping turning their beautiful desert into a landfill.
"To me, that's just disgusting, it makes me sick," said Hesperia resident Mike Wismer, who's lived in the city for 20 years and is tired of seeing garbage pile up blocks from his home.
"We've got anything from refrigerators, stoves, couches, furniture, clothes, you name it," Wismer said.
He's not alone. His neighbors share outrage over the fact that people are leaving piles of trash on their desert landscape.
"They dump the trash, and then the winds come up and blow the trash all over the desert," Chuck Wright said. "We have to go out there and pick it up and put ourselves, at risk with rattlesnakes."
Despite homeowners putting up anti-dumping signs, including one that reads "Dirtbag Dumpers We Shoot," along the dirt roads, illegal dumpers continue to bring their trash here.
Wright said code enforcement has gotten involved, but it's not enough.
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"I had one (officer) come out about a month ago," Wright said. "He finally helped us, but he's only one man."
San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies say illegal dumping is a tough crime to stop because most of the dumpers do it at night, and because the desert is so large that its difficult to catch people in the act.
Deputies put surveillance cameras in some problem areas but also need the public's help.
"We need to be able to identify the offender," San Bernardino County Sheriff's Sgt. Ken Lutz said. "We either need a witness to come forward, or in our video evidence that we can identify them by face, vehicle, license plate."
Wismer is now starting a Facebook campaign, his digital form of a neighborhood watch program, so people will take pictures or write down license plate numbers of illegal dumpers.
"If I see it happening, you're going to be on film," Wismer said. "You're going to be famous."
