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Portland police say they seized more than 1,500 cans of spray paint from a house in the Centennial neighborhood after finding clues to its whereabouts in an edgy web documentary on Portland’s graffiti problem by a group of former VICE News staffers.
The house is home to tagger James S. Fischel, who goes by “GIMER” (Graffiti Is Me Escaping Reality), police said in press release. Fischel, who has been arrested for graffiti before, according to court records, is away from Portland, but police intend to press criminal charges.
The cache of paint is worth $10,000, police say. The stash is featured prominently in an episode for the web series Chaostown, which chronicles Portland’s grit and charm. It has had almost 500,000 views.
“We stockpile this shit,” Fischel told Chaostown. “This a collective of artists.”
The investigation of 40-year-old Fischel began in mid-May, police say, when officers Nathan Kirby-Glatkowski and Amelia Flohr learned about the Chaostown episode ”Portland Is Losing the Graffiti War.”
Earlier this month, the director of the episode told WW that his team worked for five months with a “local fixer” to “get access and embed with Portland writers.” Fischel kept his face covered, and another writer (who scaled the Fremont Bridge to tag) had his voice disguised as well.
In the end, the cloaking wasn’t enough, at least for Fischel, who had been charged with criminal mischief multiple times before, according to court records, and at least once for tagging.
The search warrant was executed by the Neighborhood Response Team with help from the Special Emergency Reaction Team, the Strategic Services and Prosecution Unit, and Unit A of the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.