EUGENE, Ore. -- A man was arrested on multiple charges after officers found more than 70 firearms at a deteriorating Eugene home, police said.

Richard Eaton, 47, of Eugene faces 19 counts of possession of a prohibited firearm, first-degree theft and unlawful possession of methamphetamine.

Police said they first responded to 480 Wilkie Street at about 1:40 p.m. on Sept. 24 as Eugene Planning and Development Code Compliance worked to board up the location, which police said was hazardous. One neighbor, Kelsie Stramovsky says for as long as she's lived in her home, Eaton's home has been in trouble with the law.

"There was just an incident where some female had gotten arrested right there and there was quite a lot of cops surrounding the house," Stramovsky said. "There were a few undercovers and she was arrested and released the next coupe of days so and she was right back at that house."

Eugene Police Sargent, Mike Ware, said the department has responded to the location over the years, and conditions continually had been growing worse. They said the house had no water or electricity and was uninhabitable.

"We've been able to recover several stolen vehicles that have been at the location. We've arrested people leaving the location that have had drugs on their possession," Ware said.

Police said about eight people were at the house when police arrived and many tried to avoid them.

Police said they arrived on scene the next day to assist with the abatement process, which involved a northwest hazmat clean-up crew.

They said the location appeared to have been burglarized overnight.

Officers learned Eaton, the owner, had fully-automatic firearms hidden in the residence, police said. Eaton showed up at the home and attempted to retrieve the guns, but police said they prevented him from entering.

Upon obtaining a search warrant, police said they found suspicious explosive items and devices and called in an explosives disposal unit to the scene, which determined they were inert.

In total, more than 70 guns were discovered. Seventeen are suspected of being fully-automatic weapons, police said. They also allegedly found two silencers.

Additional patrol officers responded, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also called in.

Eaton had left the area but on Sept. 26, police processed the guns that were seized and identified a location just outside Veneta where Eaton might be found.

Officers spotted Eaton walking along Jeans Road and took him into custody.

However not all neighbors think Eaton is bad guy. Neighbor, Stephanie Shipley says he's far from someone you would think would commit these crimes.

"He wears his heart on his sleeve sometimes too much and people take his kindness for a weakness, you know what I mean? It's really messed up because he'd give you his shirt off his back his shoes off his feet the food off of his plate you know what I mean? And be like are okay now? And still make sure you're okay," Shipley said.