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The Portland Police Bureau logged its third crackdown on a graffiti writer in three months, arresting a teenager as he tagged a wall in Northeast Portland early this morning.
Officers from the North Precinct responded to reports of suspicious activity near the intersection of Northeast Broadway and 33rd Avenue. When they arrived, officers saw people spray painting a retaining wall on private property.
Officers detained two people and ultimately arrested one: Asher Bengston, 18, of Portland, police said in a press release. Officers made the arrest while patrolling streets around Interstate 84, which workers from various government agencies cleaned up over the weekend.
Bengston was charged with first-degree criminal mischief, a felony.
Bengston’s arrest is the third high-profile graffiti action since May, when Gabriel Rodriguez-Lee, who allegedly writes “OMEGA” across the city, was served a search warrant. Police found hundreds of OMEGA tags in his house.
On June 25, police said they had seized more than 1,500 cans of spray paint, valued at $10,000, from a house in the Centennial neighborhood that belonged to tagger James S. Fischel, who goes by “GIMER.”
The significance of today’s arrest lies less in the fame of the tagger and more in how closely authorities are monitoring the highway corridor that until last week served as a wide-open canvas.
Last night, police apprehended two people but arrested only Bengston, who had “bottles full of paint” in a bag, at about 1:30 am. He has since been released.