Police say they recently arrested a tagger who vandalized many areas in Reno including the Midtown District.
Recently the Reno Police Department reinstated the Graffiti Detective position in the Regional Gang Unit with the main priority of helping clean up Reno.
Police say in April Detective Javier Lopez started investigating 18 known taggers who vandalized numerous areas in the Reno, Sparks and Washoe County area. Through his investigation, he was able to interview 19-year-old Rodrigo De La Cruz Campos of Reno. Police say Campos admitted to tagging 74 different locations in Reno over the past year. They say he had had over 351 graffiti tags in the area, including Midtown since 2012.
Campos was booked into the Washoe County Jail on 1 felony count of graffiti.
Investigators say graffiti can leave a bad impression for visitors coming to our area.
"There's definitely different types of graffiti, gang graffiti, tag graffiti and juvenile graffiti. Gang graffiti can be a threat, tag graffiti can just simply be artsy but in the wrong places definitely looks ugly," says Det. Lopez.
  Â
So far this year the City of Reno has spent almost $271,000 to clean up more than 2,200 cases of graffiti.
If you see graffiti in your area, call Reno Direct at 775-334-INFO and the Graffiti Enforcement Team will respond to remove it. You can also report known taggers to Secret Witness at 775-322-4900 or text your tip to 847411 or go online to www.secretwitness.com. Your information will remain anonymous and you could be eligible for a reward.
