An 18-year-old tagger suspected of more than 300 incidents of graffiti across Vista was arrested Thursday, according to officials.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said Bladimir Lopez was taken into custody at a home in the 700-block of North Citrus Drive at around 8 a.m. His arrest was the result of an ongoing investigation involving at least 303 incidents of graffiti vandalism that have cost the city thousands upon thousands of dollars.
According to investigators, the tag associated with the prolific alleged vandal reads “ALSOE.” Cleaning up the hundreds of tags across Vista has cost the city approximately $89,500.
Officials said they used a special investigative tool called the “Graffiti Tracker” to trace acts of tagging and to help identify Lopez as a suspect. Numerous items of evidence linked to the vandalism investigation were found at the residence where Lopez was arrested, though officials would not go into specifics about those items.
Lopez was booked into the Vista Detention Facility on one count of vandalism and one count of conspiracy to commit a crime.
He’s scheduled to appear in court Mar. 13.
Meanwhile, officials said anyone with information on taggers or anyone who’d like to report graffiti in the City of Vista should call the Vista City Hotline at (760) 639-6177.
