ECISD police make arrests in school graffiti incident

Odessa,TX,USA

Officials say six PHS students, one non-student have been accused

By Ginger Pope
Odessa American

Six Permian High School students will spend about two weeks at the Alternative Education Center after they were arrested Tuesday on charges related to school vandalism.
The six Permian students and one non-student are thought to have been involved in the graffiti-vandalism cases at both Permian and Odessa High School.
ECISD Police arrested the teenagers Tuesday and booked six of them, who are 17 or older, in the Ector County Jail. One 16-year-old was booked into the Youth Detention Center.
Most have bonded out.
ECISD Police Chief Henry Jackson said four of the defendants are accused of having spray painted the outside walls at Permian on Oct. 26 and at OHS on Oct. 27. Two other defendants are accused of trespassing on the school campus.
Jackson said the motive behind the spray painting seemed to be to ignite more of a rivalry between the schools, who met Oct. 29 for the annual cross-town rivalry football game.
“Evidently they were just friends out on the drag and they all decided to go out, and get something started,” Jackson said. “It was all students from one school that did it all. It doesn’t look like anyone from OHS was involved.”
Permian was spray painted with red paint in more than 20 places on the outside walls of the school, while OHS was painted with black paint in more than 30 places on the outside walls.
“From what we can tell it was just something to do,” Jackson said. “Every time with a rivalry there’s always something going on to get people fired up, but there are other ways of doing that.”
Steve Brown, principal at Permian, said the students’ made poor decisions.
“We’re disappointed of any student, regardless of where they attend, who would vandalize a public school or any other building in town,” Brown said.
Brown said he spoke with one student who expressed sorrow.
“One student has apologized to me and to the students. He indicated he wanted to write an editorial in the school paper, but whether he does or not remains to be seen,” Brown said.
Jackson said there could be more arrests today and that they are likely to be Permian students or former Permian students.
The information that led to the arrests came from CrimeStoppers and the defendants’ confessions, Jackson said.
“We found out from rumors and those bragging about it,” he said. “They all confessed and pointed fingers at other people.”
Jackson said five of the arrests were made at the Permian school campus. The other two were made at the defendants’ homes.
Once the students bond out, they will be placed at the ECISD Alternative Education Center, Jackson said.
Brown said the students have a 12-day assignment at the AEC, but they will be back on campus after Thanksgiving.
Except for the one 16-year-old, whose case will be handled in juvenile court, the cases will go to District Court.
The acts of vandalism on a school property are a felony and carry state jail sentences of up to two years and a fine of up to $10,000. Jackson also said students likely will have to repay the school district for cleanup costs.