| February 5, 2003,
7:09 PM EST
4 Charged
In $30,000 Graffiti Spree
$30,000 In Damage Charged In Queens, Subway
By Herbert Lowe
Staff Writer
A graphic designer and three teenagers
are accused of causing $30,000 worth of graffiti damage to property
in several Queens neighborhoods and the subway system, officials
said Wednesday.
The designer, Christopher St. John,
32, of Long Island City, was arrested Oct. 10, six days after he
allegedly spray painted his tag, or signature mark, and other graffiti,
including “Mona has AIDS” and “Look Who’s
Back,” officials said.
St. John’s graffiti was found
on the walls of a subway corridor used by New York City transit
workers near the 21st Street station of the F train.
A separate police investigation led
to the arrests on Nov. 15 of Christopher Fuller and Juan Llerena,
both 17 and of Ridgewood, and Brian Esposito, 18, of Glendale —
each members of a graffiti crew known as RFW, or Ready for War,
officials said.
The defendants “now must face
the consequences of their irresponsible and self-indulgent conduct,”
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
“Graffiti vandalism is a plague,”
Brown said. “It attacks our view, blights our environment
and erodes our quality of life. We are resolutely determined to
wipe it out.”
The teens used various colors and bubble
letters to spray paint their tags in the subway system and on highway
overpasses, buildings, fences and walls in Maspeth, Ridgewood, Middle
Village and Glendale, officials said.
Fuller left the tag “MOSS,”
Esposito left the tags “KEA” and “FREE MOSS,”
and Llerena left “JUS” and “DIRT,” which
is the name of another graffiti crew he belongs to, according to
law enforcement sources.
A 48-count indictment charged the teens
with committing 21 acts of vandalism between April and November.
They are scheduled for arraignment Feb. 13 in State Supreme Court
in Kew Gardens.
Esposito faces up to four years in
prison if convicted. Llerena and Fuller each face up to seven years.
Attorneys for Esposito and Llerena
could not be reached for comment. Fuller’s attorney, Steven
Goldenberg, said his client is innocent.
St. John pleaded not guilty on Monday
in a separate four-count indictment. His next court date is March
27. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted of criminal
mischief, making graffiti and criminal trespass.
Neither St. John nor his attorney could
be reached for comment.
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