Police bust up graffiti ring
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
JessicaK@argusobserver.com
Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:12 AM PDT
ONTARIO —
The Ontario Police Department expects charges to be filed from the Malheur County District Attorney’s Office after identifying three individuals in 14 separate cases of graffiti in various areas of Ontario.
“We anticipate charging two juveniles and one adult,” Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee said, adding he believes all three are Ontario High School students.
All three of the people are linked through the graffiti, and police believe they are members of a group not identified with any other gang in the area, Kee said.
He said the criminal reports will be sent to the district attorney’s office requesting charges be filed by the end of this week. The graffiti cases range from outside the city by Norco to the Oregon Department of Transportation overpass on Fifth Avenue. Kee said there could be more people associated with this group of individuals, which was eventually identified through the school resource officer and gang officer.
“As a matter of fact, we know through our intelligence network there is another group in the Payette area, and that’s what they do, they’re vandalizing property,” he said. Kee said, once a graffiti suspect or suspects are identified, a lot of cases can be identified.
“This is a pretty high value of damage that they’ve done, so we’re really pleased about being able to get them into the criminal justice system and trying to get people some restitution,” Kee said.
Someone wrote on Nov 10, 2009 3:06 PM: