Massive cleanup underway for Las Vegas hoarder’s home

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Las Vegas officials are cleaning up what they call the worst case of “hoarding” they have ever seen — and it’s far from over.

“We estimated 15 truckloads, we’ve taken out 18 and we are about one-third through the house,” city spokesperson David Riggleman told The Las Vegas Review Journal, noting that each truck has a storage capacity of 18 tons.

City councilman Stavros Anthony told KLAS-TV he organized the clean-up efforts on Kenneth Epstein’s home after putting together a task force that included members of the City Attorney’s and Animal Control offices, the Las Vegas Fire Department and local residential code enforcement officials.

“There were dead cats. There were live cats,” he said. “There were refrigerators with liquefied meat.”

Officials said they have found 30 live cats in the course of the cleanup efforts.

According to The Review-Journal, Epstein inherited the house following his mother’s death two years ago, though technically, the Clark County treasurer’s office owns it now, because Epstein owes the county $114 in back taxes.

Neighbors told KLAS Epstein had amassed so many items he had to sleep outside and crawl in through his window to get inside. Officials said that, unlike other cases of hoarding, there wasn’t even room for a space on the floor for him to get around inside; he had to crawl on top of all the debris.

Anthony said that whenever Epstein was fined for his behavior by code enforcement officials, he would pay the fine and continue his behavior.

KLAS’ report on the efforts to clean up Epstein’s home, aired Monday, can be seen below.

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