OGDEN — A self-appointed neighborhood water cop has been sentenced to probation and counseling for popping the tires of several people he thought were watering their lawns too much during severe drought conditions last year.

An Ogden police arrest affidavit said Aaron Eng dropped caltrop spikes in driveways in the area of Jaycee Park and 25th Street in summer 2021. Police said they knew of 18 people whose tires were flattened, some not repairable, by the spikes, of the sort police use to stop fleeing suspects. One resident gave police nine spikes he found in his driveway in August and September

Eng told officers he dropped spikes on driveways because he felt “people were using too much water when we were all in a drought,” charging documents said.

Eng, 38, entered into a plea bargain in 2nd District Court on Feb. 16, admitting to a reduced charge of third-degree felony criminal mischief. The original charge was a second-degree felony. Prosecutors dropped two misdemeanor drug charges as part of the deal.

Judge Cristina Ortega then sentenced Eng to a suspended prison term of up to five years and ordered him to serve a one-year probation and undergo counseling. She also told him to check in with the Weber County Jail each day of the first 30-day period. Eng also was ordered to pay more than $2,900 in restitution.

Under the plea bargain, the charge will be reduced further, to a class A misdemeanor, if Eng successfully completes probation.

In September last year, police obtained surveillance video they said showed a man wearing a fedora and walking a dog drop a spike in a driveway. Police said they identified Eng as the man on the video. They went to his house and saw a dog that looked like the one on the video. Eng denied knowing about any spikes, but when confronted with the video, he allegedly said, “It looks like my dog,” a police probable cause statement said.

Police got a search warrant and said they found eight purchases for a total of 170 caltrop spikes on Eng’s Amazon account. Police said they found 42 spikes in the home, a fedora and shoes matching those seen on the video, as well as 30 grams of marijuana and a pipe.

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