Graffiti Tagger Caught After Hitting Venice Boardwalk - Going Back To The Can, Literally

Oh my what a day! So as you know Venice 311 is all about fighting GRIME & CRIME. Sometimes… they both come in the same package. Now there are many out there who are not huge fans of LAPD, usually they are criminals but sometimes they are advocates against bad City management and corruption. Many of you know the intrepid ZD, who has more than one appearance logged at the Police Commission meetings. Well, today ZD decided to contact LAPD for a different reason… not to speak out against them, but to let them know that a tagger who was “committing one of the dumbest crimes in history”, rattle-can in hand, spraying our fine City property on his way down the boardwalk.

We heard the call come in on the scanner. ZD decided to follow the group all the way down the boardwalk. LAPD responded to the first location they had hit in just a few minutes. We headed out to the scene and followed along until the group stopped in front of Big Daddy’s Pizza to get some slices. We called LAPD again to update the location, and when the first motor officer arrived he took the main offender into custody. When he put his hands behind his back…it exposed the spray can stashed right in his front pocket! His “friends” instantly bailed.

After running his information, it turns out he has been out of jail for just two months, and already had a $30,000 warrant for felony vandalism. The crimes he committed today were also felony vandalism. We went along Navy and the boardwalk to find the locations he tagged, and he admitted to doing the tagging.

A HUGE thanks to ZD who saw the kid tagging, called LAPD, and gave us a heads up so we could zero in on these guys and get them caught and arrested. As someone who removes a LOT of graffiti from the boardwalk… it was nice to finally catch one of these taggers red handed. Amazing to find out this kid has already done time for vandalism, had another outstanding vandalism warrant… AND was stupid enough to keep doing it - in public - in broad daylight with a zillion people around. ( duh )

I’d like to wrap this story up with a photo of “Sonata” - a street artist who began an art piece on a wall today, sanctioned by the owner. This guy is doing it right. His name is David, and he expects to be done tomorrow… we’ll update the pic when he is finished his beautiful lady. You may have already seen a rendition of her on Ocean Front Walk.