Recently in Vandalism Category

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is planning measures that would make taggers who hang out together, like gang members named in the popular injunctions, prone to arrest.

From City News Service:

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A "prolific tagger" was arrested for allegedly causing about $8,000 in damage to signs at the interchange of the San Diego (405) and Harbor (110) freeways, officials said today.

The 17-year-old boy, whose name was withheld, was taken into custody and booked at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, said Lt. E. Ruble of the sheriff's Transit Services Bureau. It's unclear when the arrest was made.

The teen was released last night wearing a GPS-enabled ankle monitoring device, pending further legal action against him, Ruble said.

Gardena police Capt. Ed Burnett put this out tonight:


On 9/24/08 the Gardena Police personnel, served a graffiti related search warrant in the 1000 block of 159th Street.  Officers were lead to this location after a thorough investigation of graffiti tagging throughout Gardena and surrounding cities.

Officers located and arrested Julian Castillo Rangel, 19 years old, of Gardena.

The investigation showed that Rangel, who uses the moniker of "Hate", defaced both city and private property approximately 300 times since early 2006. The value of the damage is estimated to be in excess of $100,000.

"Hate" quickly rose to the top of the Gardena Police Department's most wanted list after numerous instances of tagging with the moniker "Hate" began to appear on billboards, awnings, walls and poles.

Officers were able to identify Julian Rangel as "Hate."  A search warrant was subsequently served at Rangel's residence, where spray cans, "slap tags", and other graffiti paraphernalia were located.

Rangel was arrested for an outstanding vandalism warrant and numerous felony graffiti charges. Rangel is being held on $150,000 in bail pending trial.

Anyone with information about a Graffiti vandal can call Officer Luis Villanueva at
310-217-6137.

Sneak peak of one of tomorrow's stories, today!

One of three taggers believed responsible for thousands of dollars in vandalism across the South Bay was sentenced Wednesday to 90 days in jail. Mathew Galvez, 18, of San Pedro pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of felony vandalism.

In exchange, he agreed to serve the jail time and three years probation, during which the art student cannot have any vandalism tools, according to Carson Sheriff's Detective Armando Hernandez. Galvez must also serve 30 days performing community service for the state Department of Transportation and pay $4,800 in restitution, Hernandez said.

 

From police reports:

09-06-08 (Saturday)

• On 09-06-08 at approximately 12:38 a.m., Redondo Beach officers were dispatched to 239 N. Harbor Drive (On The Rocks) regarding a group fight in progress. Officers were separating the crowd when an officer contacted a male subject who was intoxicated.

The intoxicated suspect refused to comply with commands. When the officer attempted to arrest the suspect his two sisters interfered. One of the suspect's sisters grabbed the officer's right arm while the other attempted to put her arms around the officer's neck. Several other officers then took hold of the two sisters and took them both into custody. The male suspect continued to resist arrest and was taken into custody after being subdued by a Taser.

• On 09-06-08 at approximately 2:00 a.m. the Inglewood Police Department requested mutual aid. The request was for a K-9 unit and additional officers to assist with containment. An Inglewood patrol officer had observed a group of gang members walking down the street and one of them was armed with a rifle. The gang members fled from the officer in a nearby vehicle, except for the armed suspect who fled on foot down an alley. The officer established containment and a Redondo Beach K-9 Officer was sent to assist along with two other officers.

The three Redondo Beach officers were used as a search team. Of the four K-9 search teams that responded it was the Redondo Beach K-9 search team that located the rifle. At approximately 5:00 a.m. the search for the suspect was called off with negative results.

• On 09-06-08 at approximately 12:46 p.m., an off-duty Redondo Beach sergeant observed a male Hispanic adult write graffiti MS-13 and LA MARA SALVATRUCHA 13 on a bus bench. The sergeant contacted dispatch and provided the information. A patrol officer responded and arrested the suspect.

• On 09-06-08 at approximately 6:09 a.m., Redondo Beach officers responded to assist the fire department on a structure fire at 615 Emerald. When officers arrived an attached garage was fully engulfed and everyone had already exited the residence. Officers remained on-scene to assist with traffic control efforts.

The comments on the tagging arrests story are turned off. I guess this morning that some people had a difficult time being decent. 

UPDATE: Looks like the guy pulled his video off the Web after I posted it.

Carson sheriff's detectives have arrested three young men as suspects in dozens of incidents of tagging along the Harbor Freeway from San Pedro to Gardena. Read the story.

They are still looking for more suspects, including a guy who posted this video of his many graffiti accomplishments. (Can you spell E-V-I-D-E-N-C-E?) His alleged accomplices took photographs of their work. Investigators found the photos during Thursday morning raids and have all those shots ready to take to court.

Here's the video:(Advisory: The dude chose music that contains some offensive language.)

Here's Part 1 of the latest Recent Law Enforcement Events report from Redondo Beach police. 

08-18-08 (Monday)

• On Monday, August 18, 2008 at approximately 4:34 p.m., three black males entered the T-Mobile store in the Galleria and stole five "Sidekick" cell phones. The suspects fled into the CompUSA lot, entered a vehicle and left the premises.  The description of the males is very close to another similar crime that coccured on August 17, 2008.

• On Monday, August 18, 2008 at approximately 10:31 p.m., the victim was riding his bike on the Redondo Beach bike path.  As he attempted to pass a group of five male black adults who were blocking the bike path, one of these suspects punched the victim in the head.  The victim fell off his bike and all five suspects began kicking the victim while on the ground.  When the victim finally got up and the suspects left, the victim realized he was now missing his keys.  The victim declined medical treatment after complaining of pain.

08-19-08 (Tuesday)

• On Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at approximately 2:11 a.m., Officers received a call of several taggers spray painting the building located at 2722 Artesia, near the railroad tracks.  As officers were arriving on scene, the suspects / taggers ran on foot in several directions.  Two of the responding officers pursued the suspects on foot but lost one suspect in the area of Grant/Firmona. The suspect disappeared in an unknown direction since he had about a 100 yard head start.  The officers' attention was then focused on capturing other suspects who were possibly hiding in a parked car at 2810 Artesia.  Two suspects were located within a parked van and detained. Officers located numerous items of evidence inside the van, including a camera that contained video and still footage of the suspects doing tonight's graffiti. 

• On Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at approximately 3:26 p.m., a patrol officer was flagged down by a victim who related she was robbed of her cell phone.  The victim was at the beach with some friends, observed a fellow (Parris School) student and had some words. A short time later, a female in a black SUV pulled up, told her not to talk "SH*T" about her sister and grabbed her cell phone out of her hand. The SUV fled and the suspects were not immediately located. 

• On Tuesday, August 19, 2008 between the hours of 10:00-10:20 p.m., three strong arm street robberies occurred on the upper and lower bike paths, between Topaz and Sapphire.  All three appear to have been committed by the same three suspects.  

From City News Service:

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - An ordinance tentatively approved today would enable the county to fine taggers for the damage they cause.

The Board of Supervisors will take a final vote on the ordinance next week. If approved, it would take effect in 30 days, county spokesman Brian Lew said. Supervisor Gloria Molina came up with the idea after a Pico Rivera grandmother was gunned down Aug. 10, 2007, when she tried to stop a graffiti vandal from defacing a wall near her home.

The average taxpayer cost to catch a tagger is $665, and the average cost of removing or painting over graffiti is $552 per incident, according to Chief Executive Officer William Fujioka.
In response to the Pico Rivera killing, the county created a six-month pilot program known as the Vandalism Enforcement Team, which targeted taggers in Pico Rivera and the unincorporated area near Whittier. Between Jan. 6 and June 30, the team arrested 168 taggers who had caused an estimated $345,000 in damage, according to sheriff's Capt. Michael Rothans. Violent crime in those areas also dropped, he said, and none of the
suspects initially arrested were caught reoffending.