VAN NUYS : Student Sentenced in Graffiti Case
A North Hollywood High School student pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of spray-painting graffiti on a gardener’s shed April 1.
Saul Abel Madera, a 19-year-old 10th-grader from Sun Valley, was ordered to spend 30 days cleaning up graffiti. Van Nuys Municipal Judge Alan Ellis also placed Madera on two years probation and ordered him to pay restitution to the Los Angeles Unified School District.
A hearing will be held June 24 to determine how much it cost to repair the damage Madera caused.
A gardener at the school caught Madera spray-painting one-foot-high letters on the door of an on-campus shack, authorities said.
Deputy City Atty. Richard Schmidt said the letters designated Madera’s “tagging crew,” a group of youths who mark territory with graffiti.
Schmidt said other taggers should learn a lesson from the judge’s order for Madera to spend 15 weekends cleaning up graffiti.
Madera’s cleanup efforts will be supervised by the Sun Valley Graffiti Busters.
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