Superior Court Orders Vandal to Pay $14,710
San Diego, CA – The Superior Court of California today ordered a juvenile to pay the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) $14,710 in restitution for damage caused by graffiti on MTS property. He was also sentenced to one year in a short term offenders program. The vandal’s graffiti was identified by Graffiti Tracker, a web-based system that helps identify, track, prosecute and seek restitution from graffiti vandals.
“Vandals need to understand that we have the tools to catch them and make them pay,” said Paul Jablonski, Chief Executive Officer of MTS. “Vandals cause more than $1 million worth of damage each year to the Trolley system alone. We hope Graffiti Tracker helps us substantially reduce that amount by successfully prosecuting vandals.”
The juvenile ordered to pay restitution used spray paint, permanent markers and etching tools to place graffiti in at least 20 different locations on MTS property. Graffiti Tracker is able to match photos of graffiti throughout the San Diego region to determine the total damage caused by an individual.
Currently all cities and the county participate in Graffiti Tracker. The system has analyzed more than 2,777,929 million photos, helped lead to the arrest of 2,721 vandals and helped agencies collect more than $4,880,093 million in restitution.
MTS operates Trolley and bus service in the San Diego region with more than 80 bus routes and 53 miles of light rail. Last year it generated more than 84 million trips.
For more information, go to www.sdmts.com.
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