Santa Rosa Tattoo on 7th Street. (Facebook)
SANTA ROSA – Daat Kraus is known to many in Santa Rosa as the talented tattoo artist at Santa Rosa Tattoo on 7th Street in central Santa Rosa, between the 101 Freeway and the railroad tracks. But according to Santa Rosa Police, he has been expressing himself on public and private property in addition to the skin of his many customers and fans.
For the past year, detectives from the Santa Rosa PD Property Crimes division have been investigating a tagger who signs his work with a stylized “SPOZE”. They had identified at least 60 instances of work with that signature, and estimated the damage to be over $3,500.00.
Kraus posted this image for the word SPOZE on his Instagram account, perhaps one of the clues to his identity.
The investigation led them to Kraus, a 35-year-old resident of Santa Rosa. The detectives obtained a search warrant for Kraus and his residence, and served it last Wednesday, December 17. They found evidence of the vandalism, such as tools of the trade (multi-colored spray paint) along with narcotics, and a loaded gun.
Daat Kraus was arrested and booked at the Sonoma County Jail on one county of felony vandalism. the Santa Rosa Police are working with the District Attorney’s office to complete the process with 59 additional charges of misdemeanor vandalism, along with drug and weapons charges.
Detectives have asked anyone with any information about the case to contact the Property Crimes Division at 707-543-3575. Callers may remain anonymous.
Note – in the original publication of this story a photo was included that was thought to be Daat Kraus, but was in fact another man who was posted on Kraus’ Facebook page. that photo has been removed. We regret the error and any confusion it may have caused.
