Capitola PD nabs alleged serial taggers thanks to good Samaritan

Its game over for two tagging artists in the Santa Cruz area, all thanks to a good Samaritan. Capitola police arrested two male teenagers who they believe are connected to more than 50 tagging cases, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

On Wednesday, victims said they are relieved the two are in custody.

“How would you feel if someone came over and tagged your house? It’s no different,” Mattress Discounters in Capitola manager Frank Williams said.

Williams said all of the graffiti showed up on the store’s storage trailer Tuesday.

The alleged taggers were apparently on a spree, because it’s not the only piece of property they hit that day. Police said they also spray painted the police department’s mobile radar unit. Little did the suspects know, someone was watching.

“This community member made a quick call to us, let us know what he saw and observed, gave us a very good description of the two involved juveniles,” Detective Steve Anderson said.

When officers caught up to the two teens they found a journal as well. It’s important evidence, because police believe the two suspects are part of a bigger “tagging” crew, connected to other cases.

“In particular, in the last few months, we’ve been seeing it a lot here, in Capitola, in surrounding areas, and even in Watsonville,” Anderson said.

Capitola police said it took an hour to clean the radar. But it’s now back in service with no trace of graffiti on it. At Mattress Discounters, the same common moniker in the graffiti journal, showed up on Williams’ trailer.

“Our stores are our homes. If someone were to go and tag your home, how would you feel?” Williams said.

That’s a message Williams hopes these alleged taggers and anyone else with the same idea, think twice about.

Capitola detectives want to thank the good Samaritan, who wants to remain anonymous. Detectives said they’ll continue to work with surrounding police departments and the community to catch the other taggers.