Brandon Graffiti Crackdown: 'If You Allow It, It Will Keep Going'

The "thousands" of graffiti tag marks that have been springing up throughout central Brandon have been at the heart of an investigation that led to the arrest of three youths in Brandon this week.

It was at the site of one of the more extensive displays of this graffiti that representatives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office talked about the serious ramifications of graffiti, whether it is gang-related or, in this case, "art" related.

"If you allow it to continue unchecked then it will keep going and keep going until the fear will start to set in," said Larry McKinnon, a spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

People won't want to shop at businesses marked with graffiti, he said, "and people won't want to live and raise their families in communities with graffiti."

Unchecked graffiti, McKinnon added, leads to the "perpetual decay of everything."

McKinnon made his comments March 21, the day after three teens — including two Brandon High School students, ages 17 and 18 — were arrested in the latest graffiti crackdown. The third youth, 14, reportedly attended a private school.

McKinnon was standing between the drainage retention pond and partion wall at the rear of the Walmart Supercenter at 1208 East Brandon Blvd., where about 1,000 feet of space was marked with graffiti.

With him was Lt. Frank Losat, who led the months-long investigation into this latest round of graffiti markings, which included the words "swingset," "krast," "dash" and "rayek."

"This is a sampling of what we've had extensively throughout the Brandon area," McKinnon said, in a Brandon Patch video. He noted in an interview that the graffiti in this case spanned "three to four square miles inthe heart of Brandon."

• See Graffiti Crackdown Videos: 'We Had To Get on Top of This'

 Losat noted in a second Patch video that the majority of the graffiti in this case "extends from Parsons Avenue and State Road 60, all the way back down towards Brandon High School."

The graffiti marks were on "several businesses," he said, as well as "many traffic signs that were in public view as well as electrical boxes that are on the  side of the roadway."

Losat said the investigation started in May 2012 after deputies reported seeing the graffiti markings throughout Brandon.

A break in the case came last week when an affected business owner submitted a video that showed one of the youths in action.

"We were able to identify one of the suspects, through a school, and from there the dominoes fell," Losat said. (See "Earlier Report" below.)

He added that the youths were brought in by their parents and that they were cooperating with law enforcement officials.

"They understood after it was explained to them, the magnitude of [their offenses]," Losat said. "I would think their parents probably are quite disappointed in what their kids did and the ramifications that will come from this."

Those "ramifications" include possible jail time, fines and civil liabilities "with various businesses for restitution," Losat said. "The parents are responsible for those juveniles now."

Losat said law enforcement officials work quickly to take graffiti down "as fast as it goes up" as often as they can.

"It's a quality of life issue for the residents who live out here and it's a business liability issue for business owners who are affected," he said. "If customers come up and see graffiti 'art' on the walls they wonder if it is a safe place to be."

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Earlier Report:

Luis Alexander Lopez, 18, and two underage teens have been arrested by deputies, who say they have been tagging greater Brandon businesses with graffiti since 2012.

All three suspects were interviewed by deputies, resulting in 25 counts of criminal mischief with fines of $200-$1,000, according to a statement by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office..

Lopez faces 11 counts of criminal mischief, as does an unnamed 17-year-old suspect. The third suspect, a 14-year-old juvenile, faces three counts of criminal mischief.

The sheriff's office report states that the incidents occurred between May 2012 and March 2013. They included graffiti on local businesses, street signs and traffic boxes.

Deputies responded to and investigated 13 complaints of graffiti
throughout the central Brandon area. The suspects used the graffiti tags
"Swingset," "Dash," "Krast," and "Rayek."

A local business captured one of the suspects spray painting the graffiti tag "Swingset" on a wall. Deputies were able to identify and locate the suspect from the video.