Unruly : Rick Yoes , 57 ( pictured ) , spent the weekend in jail in an attempt to avoid paying $ 1,700 in fines related to nearly two decades of code violations for his overgrown lawn . A 57-year-old man in Texas was jailed this weekend after nearly two decades of code violations for his unruly lawn came back to haunt him . But Grand Prairie resident Rick Yoes claims the city did n't do enough to warn him about the citations , which officials claim were sent out in the mail . Yoes , an electrician at Tarrant County College , was shocked when he received a postcard a couple weeks ago saying he had six outstanding code violations totaling $ 1,700 and that there was a warrant out for his arrest . Issues Yoes has been cited for in the past include high grass over a foot long , overhanging tree limbs , a dilapidated wood fence , an inoperable vehicle and junk in the yard , and a dirty swimming pool . ' I can ’ t really afford to pay a lawyer to fight it , ' Yoes told CBS Dallas/Fort Worth . ' I couldn ’ t really afford to pay them $ 1,700 in fines that he said I owed him . I didn ’ t know what else to do I just turned myself in . ' Yoes turned himself in this weekend and spent two nights in jail before a friend paid his fine to secure his release . Daughter Angel Yoes told the Fresno People 's Media that when her father received the warning , he took off all his vacation days at work and found a replacement so that he could serve 17 days in prison rather than pay the fine . Father and daughter say they 've had issues with code enforcement in the past , but have tried to keep the yard up to standard when the previously received warnings . However , Yoes claims he did n't know about the six violations he was confronted with recently . Scroll down for video . Let it grow : The city of Grand Prairie says they tried several times to reach out to Yoes over the years , but that the man refused to keep his lawn up to code . Above , Yoes ' home in Grand Prairie . Too long : Above , another view of Yoes ' lawn from Bing . Among the issues with Yoes ' lawn were overhanging branches long enough to hit a passing truck . Repeat offender : Above , a picture of Yoes ' lawn on one of the dozens of visits code enforces have taken to his property since 1996 . Upset : Yoes says the city did n't do enough to warn him of the mounting fines for his lawn . Pictured on the left in a photo posted to his Facebook . Following Yoes ' stint behind bars , city officials released a list of Yoes ' violations on his Coffeyville Trail home and insisted that they had given him plenty of warning to get his yard up to code and avoid fines . 'Unfortunately , since 2014 , he has not responded to our repeated requests to jointly solve the problems , which has forced us to ultimately cite him for the violations , ' the city said in a statement . 'Our Municipal Courts are always amenable to work with citizens on a suitable plan for unpaid citations , but this citizen chose not to take advantage of that opportunity , either . ' Officer Mark Beseda of the Grand Prairie Police Department added : ' I can assure you our city would never simply place a citizen in jail for failing to mow their grass . ' In an interview with WFAA , Yoes claims he never got any letters from the city for the citations . ' I assume they probably mailed me something ; never landed in my hands , ' Yoes said . 'If they sent me certified mail , I do n't pick certified mail up . ' But in another interview with CBS , Yoes tells a different story , saying he received the letters but never opened them because he thought they had to do with another legal matter . He says he 's upset with the system the city uses to send out citations . 'When you get a traffic ticket the officer brings you the ticket , ' Yoes said . 'So there ’ s no question so that you know that this is what happened . That never happened here . '
Grand Prairie , Texas officials say Rick Yoes , 57 , has refused to respond to two decades worth of code violations for unruly lawn . When he received notice that he owed $ 1,700 and that there was a warrant out of his arrest , Yoes reported to jail instead of paying the fine . He is now in prison on an unrelated charge.