Art Sex Crime Tagging Crew Targeted in L.A. County Sweep: 8 Alleged Graffiti Vandals Arrested

MySpace

Art Sex Crime has a MySpace page.

Cops fanned out across the L.A. area in pursuit of members of Art Sex Crime, an 8-year-old tagging crew they say is responsible for more than 1,600 acts of vandalism: 11 people were arrested yesterday in eight different SoCal cities -- mostly in the southeast party of Los Angeles County.

(If you were tagging up stuff, and you wanted to avoid authorities, wouldn't you avoid having the word "crime" in your title? Just wondering).

Authorities say the big targets were South Bay and southeast L.A. County schools and Metro Green Line trains and stops:

The crew, sheriff's officials claimed in a statement, has done at least $100,000 in damage to public property.

Eight of the 11 arrested were nabbed on suspicion of felony vandalism. Three others were arrested for "unrelated" violations. One of the suspects is underage.

During the search-warrant operation yesterday, cops also nabbed the teenage relative of a target for allegedly contributing to the delinquency of a minor. And they say they found a marijuana grow house next to a search-warrant location.

If prosecuted the alleged vandals will likely be ordered to pay restitution and they could see years of probation, according to sheriff's officials.

According to the sheriff's statement, the vandalism suspects include:

Anissa Gonzalez, 19, from El Segundo.

Emanuel Gutierrez, 20, Inglewood

Christopher Alamarez, 19, from Huntington Park

Giovanny Franco, 22, from Torrance

Loane Ruiz, 21, from Inglewood

Gustavo Marquez, 19, from Gardena

John Hollenbeck, 18, from South Gate

A 17-year-old from South Gate.

The other suspects:

Guisseppe Mejia, a 21-year-old from Los Angeles, arrested on suspicion of cultivation of a controlled substance

Michael McKinley, a 20-year-old from Hawthorne, arrested on suspicion of drug sales.

Alicia Garibaldi, a 19-year-old from South Gate, arrested for allegedly contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Art. Sex. Crime. Jail.