Fresno is finding success defending itself from notorious graffiti vandals.

Since starting the crackdown in February, the city arrested 14 of the most prolific vandals. Mayor Jerry Dyer said those 14 — plus five more that have evaded capture — caused $120,000 in property damage.

The task force — a combination of Fresno police, the City Attorney’s office, and the Fresno County District Attorney’s office — filed a total of 41 criminal cases, 38 of which are felonies.

“It is not a violent offense, but it’s costing us. It’s costing our community. It’s costing our taxpayer base. (It) is costing us businesses coming to this community, and it’s costing people to have fear, because when you walk down the street, your average person doesn’t know if it’s a gang tagging or something else. They just see the graffiti and they don’t feel safe,” Police Chief Paco Balderrama said.

Balderrama said the 19 taggers arrested or identified caused up to 95% of the prolific tagging.

“Taggings went down dramatically” since the start of the task force, he said.

The city plans to hold parents responsible for minors arrested for tagging as another prong of the task force, Dyer said. But that has not started yet, the mayor said.

Taunting Tagger Arrested

One of the most notorious taggers arrested, Luis Toro, taunted the city with an “F*** Your Task Force” piece of “art.”

“The very task force who (Toro taunted), later arrested Toro on felony charges,” Dyer said.

Dyer said Toro caused $25,000 in damage. He faces five vandalism counts, four felonies, and a misdemeanor. He pleaded not guilty and returns to court June 17.

Taggers Will Pay

The city also stepped up its graffiti clean-up team. Balderrama said. At $370 per incident, the city is up to nearly $3 million spent so far.

The task force plans to recoup its costs through the taggers.

District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said if and when taggers are found guilty, the court will order restitution.

“Hopefully some of these people will pay their fines and we will be able to reimburse the city for those expenses,” Smittcamp said.