Graffiti Comes to End of Line : Transit: Deputies say they’ve derailed two teens who were the ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ vandals along new trolley route.

They were dubbed the “Bonnie and Clyde” of the Blue Line, graffiti “taggers” who left their signatures etched on train windows and spray-painted on walls and buildings along the Long Beach-to-Los Angeles trolley.

But after the pair eluded security officers for weeks on the $877-million light rail line and caused thousands of dollars in damages, authorities say, the chase appears over.

Two South Gate teen-agers--ages 14 and 16--were arrested last weekend and charged with felony vandalism, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials announced Tuesday, ending an investigation that had deputies likening them to the notorious Depression-era bank robbers even though the taggers were both young males.

“I’ll leave it to them to say which was Bonnie and which was Clyde,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Lee Harris, “but they certainly were our biggest vandals.”

Neither youth was identified because of their ages, but Harris said he and other deputies who patrol the 19-mile Blue Line had been searching for the youngsters ever since their trademark tags were found etched on a train window during the first few days of the trolley operations.

Transit officials have blamed the pair for 16 damaged windows that had to be replaced--at a cost of $400 apiece--after they were discovered defaced. The vandals’ distinctive tags were also found dashed on walls, poles and buildings up and down the rail line--and at one location, their monikers could be seen above a taunting “Hello Blue Line” greeting to transit passengers and officials.

Harris, who led the investigation that finally tracked down the youths, estimated that the pair cost the Southern California Rapid Transit District as much as $7,800 in property damage to the Blue Line. And the two have been linked to another $20,000 in graffiti-related damage to RTD buses and businesses in South-Central Los Angeles.

Although authorities said about 20 other people have been arrested for vandalism on the Blue Line since it began operation July 14, Harris said the two youngsters, in particular, seemed intent on challenging the officers who patrol the route.

“The reason we targeted them was because it appeared that they were going to pursue this with a fervor, so we elected to pursue them,” the deputy said.

In an effort to trace the youngsters, Harris questioned other taggers as well as graffiti victims who may have recognized the vandals’ signature style. But it was not until the deputy stopped at a junior high school in South Gate that he was able to match the name of one of the suspects to a youngster in the neighborhood.

Harris surreptitiously watched the youngster’s home and eventually discovered both boys, armed with spray paint cans and carbide-pointed etching pens, headed for a nearby office complex, the deputy said. Following them, Harris said, he watched as the youths painted graffiti on a wall before running away. Minutes later, they were arrested.

At the youths’ homes, sheriff’s deputies confiscated 37 cans of spray paint, 30 ink markers, four RTD bus schedules, etching knives, two books of graffiti-style drawings and other items.

Authorities will seek charges of felony vandalism and conspiracy to commit vandalism against the pair, Harris said. He added that both youths, who were released to the custody of their parents, had been arrested in the past on vandalism charges. If convicted in Juvenile Court, they could face sentences including custody in Juvenile Hall or work camps, restitution for damages and such community work as cleaning graffiti, he said.

Meanwhile, Sheriff’s Lt. Gary Schoeller said cracking down on graffiti taggers remains a top priority for Blue Line officials.

“This has been our most extensive investigation, but it won’t be our last,” he said. “This should tell taggers that we may not catch them in the act, but we will track them down.”