Alleged Tagger Wanted by MTA Is Held

Sheriff’s deputies swooped into a house near the Beverly Center on Wednesday and arrested a 17-year-old boy suspected of causing $200,000 worth of graffiti damage to Metro buses in at least 130 acts of vandalism over the last year.

The suspect, whose name was withheld because of his age, was one of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s most wanted taggers, and his arrest was part of a larger recent crackdown on such crimes. Last year, removing graffiti from buses and trains cost the MTA $7.8 million, up from $5.7 million the year before.

Graffiti in public places “creates a climate of fear. People don’t feel safe,” said Capt. Dan Finkelstein of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s transit services bureau, which patrols MTA buses and trains. “This isn’t [the vandals’] canvas. This canvas belongs to the people of the county of Los Angeles.”

Martha Vaca, who has worked in graffiti abatement for the city’s Department of Public Works for the last five years, said she could not recall a tagger who had done more damage. Most cases, she and others said, result in no more than a couple of thousand dollars in damage.

Early Wednesday in the upscale neighborhood next to Beverly Hills, deputies rapped on the front door of a tidy house with a late-model BMW in the driveway, shouting that they had a search warrant.

Within minutes, a skinny youth with spiky hair was led out in handcuffs and placed in a patrol car.

Deputies hauled away bags heavy with items they allegedly found in his bedroom: etching knives, cans of spray paint, sticky labels for “slapping” pre-made graffiti onto surfaces and a journal containing inscriptions of his alleged tagging moniker.

The boy’s mother said she was shocked, but declined further comment.

The suspect was being held at Eastlake Juvenile Hall. The MTA plans to seek restitution from his parents.

In August 2003, the sheriff’s transit services bureau formed a unit of 10 deputies to go after taggers. Including Wednesday’s raid, the unit has made 277 arrests involving graffiti vandalism.

At a tagger hangout on Melrose Avenue on Wednesday, some fumed over the crackdown.

“They’re spending all this money to go after taggers. It’s wrong,” said Jason Hays, a 33-year-old deejay with many tagger friends.

Acquaintances of the boy arrested Wednesday said he was artistic and liked to skateboard.

The suspect allegedly painted, scratched or acid-etched the same moniker every time.

“They do this for notoriety. It’s a reputation thing,” said Deputy Larry Ware of the transit unit. Ware revealed the moniker on the condition that it not be published, fearing it would feed egos and encourage tagging.

Authorities said the suspect’s success led to his arrest. Upon hearing the moniker, several teens recognized it and picked the boy’s photo out of a high school yearbook, deputies said.