Six Juvenile Suspects, Two Young Adults Arrested In Four Separate Cases
WATSONVILLE—Patrol Officers with the Watsonville Police Department have arrested five juveniles after citizens became involved in tagging incidences that have been plaguing the City of Watsonville for a week, while Santa Cruz police caught a group at the popular Boardwalk after hours.
Taggers will seek out any blank wall, like this agricultural building on West Beach.
The first incident occurred on Monday, November 24 at 4:45 p.m. in the area of West Beach Street when a citizen reported that a few juveniles were tagging some storage containers. Police arrived and located two suspects in the area.
One of the suspects, who was 15-years-old, was arrested for being a minor in possession of an aerosol spray can. He was also charged with vandalism. Both suspects were cited and released to their parents.
The second incident happened on Thursday morning at 1 a.m. A citizen who saw two teens spraying a wall in the area of 35 Beach Street flagged a Patrol Officer down.
The Officer responded to the area and found two 17-year-old suspects who matched the description given by the citizen. The suspects fled the area when they saw the officer approaching, but the Officer gave chase and was able to apprehend the pair.
Upon an investigation officers discovered 30 fresh tags on businesses in the area. Both juveniles were arrested and charged with felony vandalism, being minors in possessions of an aerosol can and resisting arrest. They were transported to Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall.
The sign in front of Landmark Elementary was the target of a marker wielding possible ex-student.
The third incident occurred later that afternoon when a patrol officer, who was on patrol near the area of Landmark Elementary School, witnessed one of two juveniles deface the school sign with a felt tip marker.
The suspect fled as the officer arrived, but an area search by another officer produced the suspect who was arrested for vandalism and was cited and released to his parents. The second suspect in that incident was released to his parents with no charges.
“The City of Watsonville has seen a recent spike in graffiti that has been wide spread thought the city.” Watsonville Police Sergeant Eric Montalbo wrote, “This has unfortunately caused damage to the city businesses and has an effect of lowering the aesthetics of our community.”
The Watsonville Police Department would like to thank the citizens who called and reported these incidences. Anyone with information about this type of crime is encouraged to call the Watsonville Police Department at 1-831-768-3350.
Dahlia Walton and Tyler Burks – images from Facebook
While the names of the Watsonville juvenile suspects were not released due to their ages, the nearby Santa Cruz police reported the arrests of Tyler Vanaustin Burks, 20, and Dahlia Cecily Walton, 19, both of Santa Cruz. According to police reports, they were out at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk late Tuesday night around midnight with two juveniles, when all shops and attractions were closed. Details of the incident were not available, but they, along with one of the juveniles, were arrested just after midnight, December 3 for trespassing causing property damage, and vandalism/defacing property. Walton, a UC Santa Cruz student and Walgreen’s cashier, shows a penchant for chalk art on her Facebook page, but she and her friends were presumably using a more permanent medium when they were arrested.
Images from Google Maps, Facebook.com
CrimeVoice staff contributed to this story.
