Boy Convicted of Felony in Graffiti Case : Crime: Youth who used the moniker ‘Den’ admits his guilt. He spray-painted the name in hundreds of locations.

A 16-year-old Reseda boy, accused of spray-painting his tag name on hundreds of locations in the San Fernando Valley, was convicted of felony vandalism Thursday in what prosecutors and police said was a major boost in efforts to hold graffiti vandals responsible for their offenses.

The youth, who used the tag name “Den,” admitted to the charges in a felony vandalism petition in Sylmar Juvenile Court. His admission was the juvenile equivalent to pleading guilty and being convicted in Superior Court.

Juvenile Court Judge Morton Rochman ordered the teen-ager to be held for a maximum of three years in a juvenile work camp.

Rochman also ordered the boy to make restitution for 31 acts of vandalism involving graffiti, and to perform 200 hours of community service painting over graffiti upon his release.

One of the boy’s 16-year-old cohorts, who used the tag name “Rogue,” also admitted to the charges in a misdemeanor vandalism petition and was ordered to spend a maximum of a year in work camp. A third member of the group, a 17-year-old who used the name “Chark,” admitted to the charges in a felony vandalism petition last week. He will be sentenced next month.

The arrest of the three boys occurred July 8 and was the first with information gathered by the Valley’s new Community Tagger Task Force. The two felony convictions are important, police and prosecutors said, because the two taggers were being held responsible for the total damage they caused with a series of separate taggings. Prior to this case, such incidents would routinely be prosecuted separately as misdemeanors.

Bill Ryder, head of the district attorney’s Sylmar office, said felony vandalism petitions were filed against two of the youths in what was to have been a potential test case for prosecutors. But because the youths admitted the petitions without a trial, the felony filing will not be tested on appeal.

But the convictions were encouraging, authorities said.

“I am excited about it,” Ryder said. “It is an encouraging sign in the efforts to get these serial taggers.”

Ryder said prosecutors and police may now be more apt to aggregate all the cases involving small amounts of vandalism into one case when seeking charges against a specific tagger. Damages must be in excess of $5,000 for a felony vandalism filing.

Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Mark A. Kroeker, who instituted the graffiti task force in April, said the outcome of the case should be a boost to community volunteers who are part of the task force and involved in documenting graffiti, identifying suspects and helping police build cases against them.

“We are very pleased with the success of this strategic approach,” Kroeker said.

The boy who used the name Den was arrested after task force members photographed and filled out reports on 31 different acts of graffiti vandalism that caused an estimated $20,000 in damages. Police said the boy was responsible for hundreds of such acts but the 31 documented cases were enough to seek felony charges.

After Den was identified by investigators, police searched his house and found ample evidence linking him to the graffiti, police said. Included in the evidence was a videotape of Den, Rogue and Chark spraying graffiti at various Valley locations. The tape led to the other boys’ arrests.

Detective Craig Rhudy, who heads up the task force, said members of the task force have reported a decline in tagging since the trio’s arrests and widespread publicity about them and the task force.

“They say they are finding a lot less graffiti,” Rhudy said.