Police: Piner graffiti suspect caught on tape — and arrested A teenage boy caught on camera spray-painting gang graffiti at Piner High School has been arrested, Santa Rosa police announced Tuesday.
The 16-year-old spray-painted a number of walls and columns during the early morning hours of Dec. 3, authorities said.
Following an investigation headed by school resource officer Alan Rosenthal, the boy was identified as a student at Elsie Allen High School. He also was a truant, officials said.
When the teenager returned to school Monday, he was arrested on charges of felony vandalism.
The suspect was formerly a student at Piner High and he was recognized in the images from the surveillance cameras.
“We could see every detail, every hair on his head,” said Piner High Principal Mary Beth Halsey.
She said the school is rarely a target of extensive graffiti, which in this case required hours to remove.
“It took my custodian and two district painters” to clean up the graffiti, Halsey said.
She estimated the damage at $700 to $800.
She said the vandalism — which includes 2-foot-high painted letters — is upsetting to both students and staff.
“It’s a violation of all that we work toward, in terms of respect, responsibility and safety that’s our focus here,” she said.
Police Sgt. Lisa Banayat said the boy is also suspected of graffiti vandalism at about five other locations, including near Elsie Allen and some central parts of Santa Rosa.
The targets included “some residences throughout the city and fences, including one house under foreclosure,” she said.
[Via:www.pressdemocrat.com]
[...] read more of this shit… [...]