Teenage Tagging Suspect Is Charged With Vandalism

VAN NUYS — Vandalism charges were filed Friday against a Verdugo Hills High School student accused of $8,700 in graffiti damage in the east San Fernando Valley, authorities said.

Jason Ramos, 18, of Tujunga, was charged with six counts of vandalism causing property damage in excess of $400 and 18 counts of vandalism causing property damage of less than $400, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

Ramos is believed to be the author of the signs “Tence,” “Tense,” “Tencer” and “Tenser” that have appeared on walls of businesses and his high school, traffic signs, a freeway underpass, a mail box and a fire hydrant--24 times in all between July 1996 and February of this year, according to authorities.

The Los Angeles Department of Public Works has already spent $1,800 to clean up some of the vandalism, and Caltrans estimates it will spend $1,600 to clean up one underpass, Qualls said.

He said that if Ramos is found guilty, the city attorney’s office will ask the court to order him to repay the public agencies and private parties whose properties were damaged. The charges stem from an investigation that began when a school police officer on March 7 said he smelled marijuana on Ramos, said Wayne Mooney, the deputy city attorney handling the case.

An officer from the LAPD Foothill station was called and he searched Ramos’ locker, finding marijuana and pieces of paper in his backpack with handwritten “tags” resembling those all over the East Valley, Mooney said.

Ramos agreed to have his room at home searched, where the officer also found spray painting paraphernalia and other evidence connecting him to the crimes, authorities said. He was booked on vandalism charges at the LAPD Van Nuys jail and released.

If Ramos is convicted, each of the charges of property damage in excess of $400 carries a maximum punishment of one year in jail and a $5,000 fine, Qualls said. Each of the other charges is punishable by six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

No charges were filed in connection with the marijuana found in his locker, Mooney said.

Ramos is scheduled for arraignment May 15 in the Van Nuys Municipal Court.