Broker Sentenced for Spray-Painting Graffiti on Walls
A broker who was arrested in a BMW with a backpack full of spray cans was sentenced to at least nine months in prison for scrawling graffiti in a poor neighborhood.
Paul Z. Singer, who ran Singer Financial Corp., was taken into custody with two other men during a heavy snowstorm in 1996 after police tracked their footprints in the snow and found graffiti in 31 spots on walls, windows and trucks.
Singer, 29, had been in trouble as a teenager for spray painting graffiti but went straight after receiving treatment for a mood disorder and alcoholism, according to testimony.
“He was experiencing difficulties in his business, pressures in his personal life. As a result of that he became depressed and relapsed into this type of behavior,” said his lawyer, Gerald S. Stein.
In addition to prison, Singer received three years’ probation and was ordered to make $4,882 in restitution.
A 17-year-old arrested with Singer was convicted in juvenile court. The third man jumped bail and has not been located.
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