The 20-year-old Staten Islander who cops refer to as the borough’s top graffiti vandal is due back in Stapleton Criminal Court today where he faces a laundry list of graffiti-related charges.

Russell Farriola, 20, of West Brighton, who cops say goes by the graffiti tag “Aloe,” is accused of committing 48 separate acts of graffiti over a 10-month period when he was arrested earlier this year, according to court papers.

Good luck Aloe.

Stories like this are becoming more and more common, unfortunately.

Graffiti taggers who caused more than $500,000 in damage were sentenced to 16 months each in prison.

The three men were sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in Antelope Valley Superior Court to felony charges ranging from vandalism to marijuana possession.

Authorities said the trio formed a Palmdale-based graffiti “crew” that spray-painted the California Aqueduct and freight trains, billboards, bus shelters and freeway walls in the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys and Kern County.

They committed more than 5,000 acts of graffiti, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Detective Bob Schneider said.

“Sixteen months in prison, I think, was a gift for the amount of damage they’ve done,” Schneider said.

The men were arrested in March after a two-month investigation.

Prosecutors have asked that the men be required to pay more than $155,000 in restitution. A court hearing on the restitution matter was scheduled for June 13.

Source: 3 sentenced for $500,000 in SoCal graffiti damage

All I can say is WOW and this guy should have got himself a real lawyer…I’m sure all he had was a lame Public Defender, poor guy.

An Oxnard teen will be the first in California to serve prison time for tagging.
Daniel Juarez pleaded guilty to 40 counts of graffiti vandalism and will serve 16 months in state prison as part of a plea agreement. Both the D-A and Oxnard Police believe that 19-year-old Daniel Juarez will become the first tagger ever in California to go to state prison for graffiti vandalism.

Read More: Tagger to Serve Prison Sentence

I told you I’de stay on top of this story.

Relying on computer evidence seized from his Manhattan home last October, the district attorneys in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens have charged Mr. Ket under his real name, Alain Maridueña, with 14 criminal counts, including trespass, criminal mischief and making graffiti. If convicted, he could potentially face decades in prison and huge financial penalties.

Mr. Maridueña is charged with painting several recent images on subway cars, a form of graffiti vandalism that has largely died out since the early 1990s. But his case, and his recent professional history, underscore how graffiti has been propelled from the shadowy corners of the subway system into a global genre of virtual images circulated on the Internet, and become a powerful influence in design, fashion and graphics.

The case could pose an important test for prosecutors and the police, since Mr. Maridueña was never caught in the act and has no previous criminal record in New York City. Instead, the government’s case appears to be based largely on what prosecutors say is the unmistakable detail of his graffiti signature — his “KET” tag — and the fact that the tag is visible on photographs of illegal subway graffiti that were entered into Mr. Maridueña’s home computer only hours after identical work was discovered on subway cars.

Read More: Graffiti Figure Admired as Artist Now Faces Vandalism Charges

Just caught this one from the nightly news here in southern California. There’s video of his work, just follow the link.

Police call it vandalism, he calls it art. Steven Gonzalez (aka ORGY) was facing prison time for tagging public and private property, but he won’t serve a day. John Schwada explains who paid the price for this tagger’s crime.

Source: Home Loan Pays for Tagger’s Crime

Some of ORGY’s work can be found here, in this short video clip titled “Acts of Bravery.” – within the first few seconds of the clip his work is on the underside of a freeway bridge in Los Angeles.

I can’t believe I missed this one! Last week Sohh reported:

Alain “Ket” Maridueña, former publisher of 90′s hip-hop magazine Stress was reportedly arrested yesterday for leaving his mark on subway trains and stations across New York City.

According to New York’s Daily News, 36-year-old Maridueña, who wrote graffiti under the alias Ket, was indicted in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens for 11 incidents of felony criminal mischief between 2004 and 2006. Maridueña turned himself in to the Brooklyn district attorney’s office yesterday (March 6).

I will stay on top of this one so stay tuned!

So, I came across a news article from March 13, 2007 and I’m stumped. Is this for real?!? (Laughing hard right now.)

Saif Azzuz, 19, who used the tag name “El Barto” and “Bart”, will be sentenced to three years probation and will perform community service and clean graffiti under an Educational Sentencing Program, Deputy District Attorney Craig Brooks said. Seven counts of vandalism causing more than $50,000 each are to be dismissed at sentencing on April 9, Brooks said. The amount of restitution Azzuz must pay has not been determined, Brooks said.

Original news article can be found here.

Follow Up:
Well, I guess this wasn’t a joke! Posted today (April 9):
Judge Orders Graffiti Tagger ‘Bart’ To Clean Walls

You read that title right! Local (to me) graffiti vandal WISHM from the crew RUH has been hunted down and incarcerated by local authorities through his YouTube account.

Yesterday was the first time that I caught wind of WISHM being caught by authorities (thanks to the ultra-famous news agency News Corp, aka Fox11) and is in custody and facing felony vandalism charges for crimes committed in San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County. It seems that his accomplice MEEK is still at large though.

Here’s the video which caused his downfall:

UPDATE:
I caught this flick on my way back from the bombest Chinese restaurant this side of China, Capitol Chinese Seafood Restaurant (Diamond Bar, CA):

P.S. Sorry about the quality, we were driving and I caught it out of the side of my sight at the last second, luckily we were stuck in traffic.
And another to prove it was the duo: