Morrisville Residents Help Police Catch Litterbug Suspect

Some Morrisville residents said someone dumped several lounge chairs and a foot stool on Cotton Drive.

"I don't appreciate them doing that because I'm constantly walking the street and picking up paper and cans and everything else on the street and people out of town just come and dump trash out here," resident Jane Creech said.

"I wouldn't want to go and dump it in your back yard, or I wouldn't want to dump it in the police's back yard or nobody else's back yard when we got a dump just a quarter of a mile down the road. It doesn't make sense," resident Estar Creech said.

Two neighbors caught the illegal dumper in the act. They followed the offending truck, took down a license number and called Morrisville police. Neighbors stared at the trash for about a month.

It took four weeks, but acting on the neighbors' tip, police charged Gene Collins of Burlington with littering.

"I just want to resolve it. [I] have no hard feelings and just get on with my life," he said.

"Yes, it's very satisfying. We receive those complaints all the time and when we can catch somebody in the act, we like to charge them," said Morrisville Police Chief Ira Jones.

Collins promised to clean up the trash this weekend. He could face up to a $2,000 fine and 100 hours of community service.