Upland boy nabbed for tagging
Reported on http://www.insidesocal.com/news247/ at 11:01 a.m. December 1.
A 17-year-old Upland boy is facing charges that last year he allegedly tagged 65 locations here causing about $17,400 in damages.
The boy, who used to live in Whittier, was arrested last week by the Whittier police Special Enforcement Team on suspicion of felony vandalism.
He was cited and will return to Los Padrinos Juvenile Court at a later date, Whittier police Officer Jason Zuhlke said.
The District Attorney's Office has not yet filed charges against the boy.
The boy allegedly sprayed, etched, marked and painted locations ranging in size from one-square-foot to more than 180-square-feet, Zuhlke said.
The city will ask the courts for restitution in the case, Whittier Mayor Joe Vinatieri said.
The city has zero tolerance for tagging, Vinatieri said.
The Police Department's five-member Special Enforcement Team follows up on taggers when they are arrested and matches them to other tags in the city.
The boy was arrested in August for tagging, Zuhlke said. The team followed up on the boy on related taggings in the city and learned he was tied to the 65 other incidents.
To date, police said, the city has been awarded about $84,000 in restitution by juvenile and adult courts.
The city also has a program in which it offers a $500 reward to people who see tagging in progress and report it to police. The reward is paid when the suspected tagger is arrested.
The amount of tagging goes up and down, Vinatieri said.
"Right now, it's going down a bit," he said. "In the last four to five months tagging has been down compared to earlier in the year."
Vinatieri said he credits the reward program and the police cracking down on taggers as factors in the decline.
ruby.gonzalez@inlandnewspapers.com
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