A 59-year-old man who spent 20 years living in caves near Glenwood Springs was sentenced Tuesday to a year of probation on a weapons possession charge, authorities say.

Chief Judge Marcia Krieger also fined Michael Ray Collins $500 Tuesday during a federal court hearing in Grand Junction. As a condition of his probation, Collins can’t possess guns for hunting, protection or anything else. He also was warned the trailer where he now lives can be searched for weapons at any time.

Collins is a man of few words. When asked whether he had anything to say on his behalf he replied, “I just want to go to work. That’s all I ever do is go to work.”

Garfield County sheriff’s deputies spotted Collins on Nov. 25, 2015, during a search in the mountains above Glenwood Springs. Collins told them he “had a cave” where he had been living for three years, court records indicate.

Collins had been convicted on a felony charge of attempted assault on a peace officer in Illinois in 1994 and decided to move to the Colorado Rockies after living on a South Dakota Indian reservation. Collins was a reclusive person who as a teen took care of a baby skunk when it got lost, his attorney David Johnson said.

On Dec. 9, 2015, a Bureau of Land Management ranger searched the cave, which is on BLM property, and found three rifles and a Ruger .44 Magnum handgun and 2,612 rounds of ammunition.

Johnson disputed a prosecution claim that Collins used the guns for protection from wild animals and intruders. Instead, he used the weapons only to kill game and for target practice.

Collins was originally charged in April with being a felon in possession of a firearm and depreciation of public property. The second charge was later dropped during plea bargaining.

“He was originally living in this cave as a fugitive for a long, long time,” federal prosecutor Pete Hautzinger said during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

He said that Collins had survivalist-type books and articles in the cave and had lived in several caves during the past 20 years. Six BLM rangers spent about 10 hours each to clean the cave, according to court records. The rangers took eight cubic yards of trash to a landfill.

Originally Hautzinger believed Collins was dangerous, but later became convinced he was a good, hard-working man and didn’t pose a threat to others.

Johnson explained that Collins would hike into Glenwood Springs during the past 10 years to work as a maintenance man for Glenwood Cabins. After his arrest, Collins’ boss allowed him to stay in a trailer.

Krieger told Collins that he wasn’t in court for living in a cave. “It’s not whether your way of dealing with life is wrong or not,” the judge told Collins. She said he was in trouble because he was a convicted felon and could not legally keep weapons.

“You understand that if you live in a cave you can’t have guns,” Krieger asked.

“Yes,” Collins proclaimed loudly.