Thanks to our partners in the news media and our social media audience on Nixle, Facebook and Nextdoor, Angel DeJesus Lopez, age 19, of Santa Barbara, was arrested for felony vandalism and misdemeanor possession of vandalism tools.
A surveillance video of Lopez was distributed via a Santa Barbara Police Department Catch a Vandal media release on April 29, which generated an anonymous tip that ultimately led to his identification by SBPD Youth Services Section Detective Ben Ahrens.
Once Lopez was identified as the suspect in this case, investigators learned that he is currently on probation for vandalism.
At 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Detective Ahrens and others contacted Lopez at his residence in the 600 block of Coronel Place and conducted a probation search.
Lopez was found to be in possession of vandalism tools such as paint markers and postal labels with his tagging moniker on them and was subsequently arrested. When interviewed, Lopez admitted to committing numerous graffiti vandalisms throughout the city of Santa Barbara. Thus far he has been linked to approximately 40 documented cases that occurred in 2013 and 2014 resulting in approximately $40,000 worth of property damage.
Lopez was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on the aforementioned charges with a bail amount of $20,000.
— Sgt. Riley Harwood is a public information officer for the Santa Barbara Police Department.