The Milam County Sheriff’s Department seized the controversial “junkyard” at 1300 and 1328 West Cameron (US 79) on Monday.
Owner Ira Richard “Richie” Thrasher Jr., 43, was charged with bond forfeiture for bail jumping/failure to appear and illegal dumping and is being held on $107,500 bond.
The seizure came five days before the county held an auction at the site on Wednesday morning (Nov.
13) with money raised to go toward cleaning up the site.
HISTORY—It is the third time Thrasher has been arrested in connection with the property which has been legally declared a “junkyard” in court action.
Both the City of Rockdale and Milam County had been attempting the get the property cleaned up, noting it is located on the major highway through town and presents an eyesore not only to town residents but to traffic passing through.
The legal battle has now lasted more than a year and a half.
In March, 2018, Thrasher was found guilty in Rock-dale Municipal Court on six counts of keeping a junkyard within 1,000 feet of a highway and was assessed the first in a series of fines.
There were repeated attempts at forcing a property cleanup by the city and county, including a 30-day deadline to begin cleanup, a deadline which was not met.
In June of this year Thrasher was indicted by a Milam County Grand Jury for bail jumping/failure to appear after missing a court date and was arrested.
In September, after missing another court date, he was indicted again on the same charge and was again arrested and he was fined $62,000.
At that point, the total of his fines and court costs had grown to $122,612.
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