Juveniles linked to graffiti binge

By Andy Gates - Argus Observer
Friday, March 23, 2007 12:11 PM PDT

ONTARIO - A recent spurt of 28 cases of gang graffiti apparently lapsed this week, without any new cases reported in town.

According to Ontario police, three juveniles are responsible for most of the town’s cases of graffiti vandalism — which defaced property and inconvenienced residents in recent weeks.

Ontario Police Department Capt. Mark Alexander said a 15-year-old juvenile was arrested March 15 on a felony warrant for probation violations, and based on evidence, police believe the juvenile could be responsible for the “majority” of recent graffiti vandalism cases.

And, a 14-year-old juvenile — who was contacted by Ontario police March 16 — may be responsible for one or two of the cases, Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee said.

However, the 14-year-old has not yet been cited, Alexander said Thursday.

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Ontario police also arrested a 17-year-old juvenile March 16 who they said could be linked to the graffiti binge. The juvenile recently took-off from a half-way house after being “furloughed” from a state juvenile corrections facility, Kee said.

Police have said the 17-year-old juvenile is responsible for eight of the graffiti cases that swept the northwest portions of Ontario, and Kee said reports were sent to the Malheur County District Attorney’s Office requesting charges also be issued against several of the juvenile’s family members who live in Ontario.

“His family was aiding him in hiding from the law,” Kee said.

Ontario police boosted patrols in the city last weekend with six additional officers who were out the nights of March 16 and March 17, Kee said.

“There wasn’t much going on,” Kee said of the weekend, and no additional cases of graffiti have been reported recently.

People who police said are responsible for the graffiti have been uncooperative with the investigation, Kee said.

“The majority of the suspects we’re talking to aren’t cooperative,” Kee said.

A hard hit area in town included alleyways between Northwest Sixth Street and Northwest Fifth Street, where 16 graffiti cases were reported March 11 after 3 a.m., and hit fences, garages, sheds and vehicles, police have said.

Police took 20 reports of graffiti vandalism between March 10 and March 11, some of which involved the area of North Oregon Street, and police took four reports from businesses March 12 in the southwest part of town.

Six graffiti reports were taken March 8, which predominantly affected residential property, as well as the shop for the Ontario Public Works Department, police have said.

Red, silver and white paint was used to deface property with words associated with area gangs, Alexander said last week, including “SUR 13” (surianos), “East side” and “BMC” (Brown Magic Clique).

Police have said two gang syndicates hold sway locally, the 13th Street and the 18th Street gangs.

There was also 18th street gang graffiti noted, and police say the 17-year-old is responsible for that.

“Not long after he absconded, 18th Street stuff started showing up,” Kee said.

Almost 30 letters have been dispersed to people asserting they are criminal gang affiliates, Ontario police said, since an ordinance to designate gang members recently passed through Ontario City Council.

In other police news:

— Malheur County Sheriff’s Office deputies in Jordan Valley arrested two men from Bakersfield, Calif., Wednesday following a traffic stop along U.S. Highway 95 for possessing around a half pound of meth, Undersheriff Brian Wolfe said Thursday.

The men, Paul Ojeda, 20, and Jony Lainezromero, 21, were stopped for speeding in a pickup truck around 11:47 a.m., Wolfe said, and a search of the vehicle revealed the illegal narcotics.

The High Desert Drug Task Force and a police canine became involved in the case, Wolfe said, and the men were taken to the Malheur County Jail.

— Alexander said two men were arrested Wednesday night on felony warrants in unrelated cases.

David Suiter, 55, Nyssa, was arrested around 2:30 p.m. on the 100 block of Northwest Seventh Street on a warrant for two counts of first degree sodomy and two counts of first degree sexual abuse. Sodomy in Oregon includes oral sex.

Police later arrested Jaime Oviedo, 43, Nampa, around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday on a felony warrant out of Canyon County for a larceny charge, Alexander said.

Police received a report Wednesday that a windshield fell out of the back of a pickup truck causing a traffic hazard in Ontario, so Alexander said police located the suspected vehicle in question and arrested Oviedo on the warrant.

— The Malheur County Sheriff’s Office began a search and rescue operation Tuesday night after a Bend woman called 911 from a hilltop to report her vehicle was stuck in the mud in a rural area of the county.

The woman told dispatch her friend had not returned for 24 hours after he left to find help, Wolfe said Wednesday.

Wolfe said the woman was unsure of her exact location, but provided marker points, which led authorities to believe she was stuck in the Star Mountain area.

Two aircraft were deployed to search for the 2007 four-wheel drive pickup, Wolfe said, and it was subsequently located.

Wolfe said when rescuers arrived on scene around 1 a.m. Wednesday, , the woman, Christy Scott, 50, Bend, and her partner, Troy Wells, 25, Mount Vernon, were with the truck and another vehicle had come to their aid but was also stuck in the mud.

“When we got there, the male subject was back — another pickup was there, and both were stuck in the mud,” Wolfe said, “Everybody was fine and in good health.”

Wolfe said Wells walked to Crowley to search for help Monday, and he called for the other vehicle.

Wolfe said Wednesday morning he assisted on the case through the night.

— Ontario State Police responded to a minor injury crash Tuesday around 9:20 a.m. involving a driver who was falling asleep at the wheel of her 2001 Toyota pickup, which subsequently flipped on its roof and slid 426 feet on U.S. Highway 26 east, Oregon State Police Lt. Rich Pileggi said Wednesday.

Pileggi said that is a long distance to slide, and the driver, Berta Yiotie, 54, Prineville, has not been cited.