Sheriffs arrest tagger ‘Buket’ after finding fresh tags

Daredevil tagger “Buket,” who gained notoriety for his brazen daylight “bomb” of a sign over the Hollywood Freeway, could be headed to state prison after authorities Thursday said they had found fresh evidence of his tags in downtown and South Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s transit investigators did a probation compliance search Thursday at the home of graffiti artist Cyrus Yazdani after they found new “Buket” tags on a mural on the Hollywood Freeway, a South L.A. business and the concrete lining of the Los Angeles River, which authorities said had been one of his favorite targets.

When sheriff’s officials interviewed Yazdani on Thursday, he was in possession of scribers, which are used in tagging, and paint was splattered on his clothing, they said. One of his alleged tags was found a block from his apartment.

He was later detained and taken to the Century Regional Detention Facility, where he was being held without bail on a parole violation.

A judge in December sentenced Yazdani to 10 months in county jail, 256 hours of graffiti removal and five years’ formal probation after he pleaded guilty to nearly three dozen counts of felony vandalism. He was released from jail based on credit for time served but faced the prospect of three years in state prison if he violated the terms of his sentence.

The case stemmed from a tagging spree between 2005 and 2007 during which the 26-year-old San Jose State graduate slapped his tags on buses, freeway walls and overpasses, and along the Los Angeles River. Sheriff’s officials said they had evidence that Yazdani had marked hundreds of freeway overpasses, concrete walls and transit buses across the state and southern Nevada.

Yazdani became something of an Internet sensation when he plastered his “Buket” bomb 20 feet above the busy Hollywood Freeway -- vandalism that was captured on video and posted with a rap soundtrack on YouTube and numerous tagging blogs.

Another daylight attack, which also was videotaped, appeared to show “Buket” applying his moniker to an MTA bus as passersby and passengers watched in surprise.

A YouTube video featuring both tagging exploits has attracted more than 450,000 views. But the notoriety also got the attention of sheriff’s transit investigators, who arrested Yazdani last May.

Sheriff’s deputies and officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had identified at least 20 “Buket” scrawlings along a stretch of the river spanning a couple of miles, causing an estimated $60,000 in damage.

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andrew.blankstein@latimes.com