3 sentenced for $500,000 in SoCal graffiti damage

ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:43 p.m. May 11, 2007

LANCASTER – Graffiti taggers who caused more than $500,000 in damage were sentenced to 16 months each in prison.
The three men were sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in Antelope Valley Superior Court to felony charges ranging from vandalism to marijuana possession.

Authorities said the trio formed a Palmdale-based graffiti “crew” that spray-painted the California Aqueduct and freight trains, billboards, bus shelters and freeway walls in the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys and Kern County.
They committed more than 5,000 acts of graffiti, Los Angeles County sheriff's Detective Bob Schneider said.

“Sixteen months in prison, I think, was a gift for the amount of damage they've done,” Schneider said.

The men were arrested in March after a two-month investigation.

Prosecutors have asked that the men be required to pay more than $155,000 in restitution. A court hearing on the restitution matter was scheduled for June 13.