UPDATE from the City of Vinton: The Village of Vinton is aware of a news story about illegal dumping in Vinton earlier this week. However, this is incorrect. The actual location of the illegal dumping is at 7701 South Desert Blvd., outside our city limits and in El Paso County’s jurisdiction.

According to reports, the property owner and El Paso County are aware of the situation and are working together to resolve the issue.

The Village of Vinton would like to remind the public that illegal dumping is a serious crime and can cause major public health and safety concerns. Dumpsites can contain broken glass, exposed metal, hazardous wastes, and other dangerous materials and attract pests such as rats, snakes, and mosquitoes. It also has very harmful effects on our arroyos, streams, and other waterways.

To report illegal dumping, call 311 and have the location, license plate number, and description of the person(s) dumping illegally.

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VINTON, Texas (KTSM) — Piles of clothes, illegally dumped behind an old building that has been shut down for years near Vinton, can be seen from Interstate 10.

KTSM saw people driving to the building to see the mountains of clothes scattered in the vacant building’s parking lot. Some people even picked through the pile of clothes for items they wanted.

KTSM noticed that some of the clothes still had tags on them.

KTSM tried to reach out to the building’s owner but wasn’t able to get an answer. A building owner representative then contacted us and said they were already aware of the problem since it had been about a month since the piles of clothes had been there.

They told KTSM this has nothing to do with the building owner, and it’s an unfortunate instance of illegal dumping on their property.

They also said that an 18-wheeler broke their fence chains to get in and dump the garments in the parking lot.

The representative said they don’t know who dumped the garments, but it is a case of illegal dumping since it’s private property.

When KTSM went out to the site on Tuesday morning, no trespassing signs were posted, but sometime during the day, signs were placed that said the property was private and you couldn’t trespass.

The representative also told KTSM they were working to resolve the issue, and at the moment, they plan to get dumpster containers out to the location to clean up the mess.

An inspector with El Paso County said that this situation is under investigation, and they are in contact with the building owner.