Tagger Sentenced to 4 Years in Jail

In what is believed to be one of the stiffest penalties yet for a graffiti vandal in California, a 20-year-old Lakeside man was sentenced Wednesday to four years in jail and was ordered to pay restitution that could amount to $30,000.

Kelly Gleghorn, a high school dropout who pleaded guilty to 74 misdemeanor counts of vandalism, bragged to police that he began his spree in Brawley about 2 1/2 years ago and worked his way toward the ocean spreading the tag “KELS” more than 1,000 times.

Gleghorn also was convicted by a jury of two felony counts of conspiracy to commit vandalism and one count of burglary, making him eligible for a prison term.

Superior Court Judge Donald Meloche rejected a probation recommendation that Gleghorn be sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in state prison, saying that the penalty would be too lenient because it would allow Gleghorn to go free in about a year.

Instead, Meloche sentenced Gleghorn to four years in a local jail, five years probation, ordered him to pay $1,600 in fines and to perform 25 days of public work service by cleaning graffiti.

The exact amount of restitution to the victims has yet to be calculated, but prosecutors put the estimate at about $30,000. If Gleghorn fails to pay his victims or violates probation, he could be sent to prison or back to jail for up to 38 years.

“You better get out and work hard and pay this,” Meloche told Gleghorn. “Just think of it as a car you’re paying for that you’ll never drive.”

Caltrans employee Mary Beth Hayes, who cleans graffiti along San Diego County freeways, urged the judge to send a message to taggers and put Gleghorn in prison.

“This is not an innocent act of artistic expression. It’s vandalism,” Hayes said.

Prosecutor Douglas Rose said Gleghorn probably was responsible for up to $78,000 worth of damage and had asked for a prison sentence, but was pleased with the outcome.

“If he had gone to prison, he would have done less time,” Rose said. “He wanted to be notorious, he wanted to be famous, he wanted to be memorialized.”

Defense attorney Roger Christianson asked for one year in jail because Gleghorn has accepted responsibility and cooperated with police.

“He’s 20 years old physically, but he’s not 20 years old mentally,” Christianson told the judge. “This is not a gang affiliation. He just wanted to be known.”

Gleghorn’s fourth-grade teacher appeared in court. Kathy Bass urged the judge to be lenient, calling her former student an “angel” in her classroom.

Although it may be the harshest graffiti sentence handed down in a California courtroom, Meloche told Gleghorn that he was “getting off light for what he has done.”