Man Charged Over Graffiti Targeting Woman

A 40-year-old homeless man allegedly upset with his ex-girlfriend faces charges in the spray painting of “FAT” and “200+LBS” on billboards, fences and walls in the Santa Clarita Valley, authorities said Thursday.

“He knew [her weight] was a sensitive issue,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Donna Elliott. “He knew it would get her attention.”

James White’s arraignment on eight counts of vandalism was continued to Jan. 25. His bail was set at $26,000 on the vandalism charges, but Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Alan Rosenfield denied bail on a separate 1998 felony drug possession case.

During an interview with sheriff’s deputies Wednesday, White admitted vandalizing more than 40 locations from mid-December to mid-January as retribution for a breakup with his former girlfriend about a year ago, Elliott said.

In some cases, White wrote the woman’s first and last names in the graffiti, which led to his arrest. Authorities said they contacted the woman, who told them White was bothering her.

There has been “ongoing turmoil” between the two for quite a while, Elliott said.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested White on Wednesday when he came into the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station to discuss what Elliott said was an unrelated matter. She declined to elaborate. Authorities had an arrest warrant and took him into custody at the station.

“He was surprised,” Elliott said. “It was the last thing in the world he expected.”

White’s attorney, Ed Consiglio of Lancaster, said he asked for a continuance because he was unprepared to enter a plea.

Consiglio said White completed a drug treatment program to keep a 1998 drug possession arrest from his police record. A condition was that he not get into any more trouble. The vandalism arrest could result in the addition of the earlier felony charge to his record, his attorney said.

Authorities described White as an unemployed laborer who lives on the streets of Santa Clarita, occasionally taking shelter in a house off Soledad Canyon Road. Consiglio, who was retained by White’s sister, said he lives in some type of storage container.

When the graffiti started appearing, shortly before Christmas, Santa Clarita’s graffiti hotline was inundated with complaints from residents, said Cynthia Boyd, community services coordinator who helps oversee the city’s volunteer graffiti cleanup team.

Tom Haner, a retired county manager, cleaned up many of the sites, including a 20-foot-long message under an Antelope Valley Freeway bridge.

“This guy has kept me busy every day since before the first of the year,” Haner said. “One time, I worked well into the night removing graffiti on San Fernando Road and got up the next morning and it was right back.”

Shortly before the holidays, Haner said some of the graffiti said “Fat Christmas Pig” and other derogatory statements. In the end, he said the long messages, such as “200+LBS” had been shortened to “LBS.”