A 33-year-old Australian man who admitted he was the artist behind graffiti found on a train in the Millbrae BART yard in December was sentenced to three years supervised probation and 125 days county jail Friday, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
A judge is expected to consider prosecutors’ estimate that Matthew Raoul White caused some $13,000 in damage by spraying 4-foot-by-7-foot words and initials on the Millbrae train when he next appears in court July 12 for restitution hearing, according to prosecutors.
White was waiting to board a connecting flight to Sydney when he was arrested with spray paint on his clothes at the San Francisco International Airport in late December as the suspect behind the moniker “Bamp Floss” and the letters “GH” spray-painted on a train in Millbrae, according to prosecutors.
Believed to be part of the Australian graffiti group Get Hectik, White was connected to the crime after photos of the graffiti were shown to law enforcement agencies across the globe. They were connected with the group when a detective in New York City recognized the graffiti as similar to writing observed on the New York subway trains. After speaking with an Australian constable who believed the graffiti to be White’s from previous investigations, officials put a warrant out for his arrest, according to prosecutors previously.
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said White is expected to face charges in Contra Costa County as well. Similar graffiti was also found on trains at the Daly City, Richmond and Concord BART yards, but Wagstaffe said previously the charges White faced in San Mateo County only pertained to the graffiti found on the train in Millbrae.
Wagstaffe said he felt a harsher sentence was warranted in the case of White — who received 125 days credit for time served and is in custody on $400,000 bail — and expressed disappointment the judge didn’t sentence him to nine months in county jail as prosecutors requested.
White’s defense attorney Patrick Concannon could not be immediately reached for comment.
[censored] I'm fed up with these monied graffiti vandals traveling places for spraycation. Here in Portland, we get taggers from your state all the time, and our taggers go to your state, especially Oakland.
Graffiti vandals need to be placed on the TSA watch list since they're traveling around for criminal purposes.
This is too light a sentence. It will only happen again and again and them building owners, etc. are forced to pay to clean up the graffiti mess. This guy has probably done the same thing a thousand times before, it is so rare to be caught. Please don't call them artists; they spray where it is unwanted; let them get permission first.
Prolific tagger from Portland, Oregon like ANTSI and LOKI are known to have been on a spraycation in your Bay Area. Here in Portland, we have "Graffiti Program" which was called the "Graffiti Abatement Program" until very recently. Despite the city government's official statement, enforcement against severely derelict property is very poor and civil remedy and criminal prosecution of graffiti vandals is just as poor.
Unfortunately, such leniency becomes an invitation for unwanted visitors like graffiti vandals to come through, which the lenient parts of Bay Area like Oakland; and Portland, OR have in common.
Here is the official claim made by our government that they generally do not enforce: "The City of Portland's Graffiti Program enforces the Graffiti Abatement Nuisance Code for locations with high volumes of accumulated graffiti that the property owner has neglected to remove. "
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(4) comments
[censored] I'm fed up with these monied graffiti vandals traveling places for spraycation. Here in Portland, we get taggers from your state all the time, and our taggers go to your state, especially Oakland.
Graffiti vandals need to be placed on the TSA watch list since they're traveling around for criminal purposes.
This is too light a sentence. It will only happen again and again and them building owners, etc. are forced to pay to clean up the graffiti mess. This guy has probably done the same thing a thousand times before, it is so rare to be caught. Please don't call them artists; they spray where it is unwanted; let them get permission first.
Oops, meant to write: "...and then building owners...".
Prolific tagger from Portland, Oregon like ANTSI and LOKI are known to have been on a spraycation in your Bay Area. Here in Portland, we have "Graffiti Program" which was called the "Graffiti Abatement Program" until very recently. Despite the city government's official statement, enforcement against severely derelict property is very poor and civil remedy and criminal prosecution of graffiti vandals is just as poor.
Unfortunately, such leniency becomes an invitation for unwanted visitors like graffiti vandals to come through, which the lenient parts of Bay Area like Oakland; and Portland, OR have in common.
Here is the official claim made by our government that they generally do not enforce:
"The City of Portland's Graffiti Program enforces the Graffiti Abatement Nuisance Code for locations with high volumes of accumulated graffiti that the property owner has neglected to remove. "
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.