shift, armed with black and silver spray paint - seven cans hidden in a backpack. His MO, according to an account he gave police, was to work an 11 p.m.-to-5 a.m. Ramos, who took his spray name from a furry character on the mid-1970s fantasy television series, ‘Land of the Lost,’ had been pinched plenty of times before as a juvenile, but having reached the age of majority he was sentenced to three years’ probation and 1,560 hours of graffiti-cleanup duty. The authorities alleged that the wispily built kid who grew up in the Aliso Village project had left his mark in more than 10,000 places, resulting in more than $500,000 in property damage. 20 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.Ramos was 18 when police caught him pen-handed in November 1990, using a marker to scrawl ‘Chaka’ on a traffic light pole in Lincoln Heights. Ramos, now 18, was arrested for the first time as an adult, and faces 24 years in jail and a $24,000 fine if convicted. Police say that Ramos laughed when a judge put him on probation. Ramos was arrested in Los Angeles last spring and was charged with 88 counts of vandalism totaling $350,000. ``Chaka concentrated a lot of effort on vandalizing railway cars, apparently because they are mobile and carried his tag throughout the Southern Pacific network,'' said Los Angeles City Attorney Jim Hahn. Southern Pacific Railroad police have tallied up $30,000 worth of Chaka damage in its rail yard. The brazen Chaka artwork has infuriated police officers - turning up at least 25 times on the building across the street from the Northeast Division police station - and frustrated state transportation officials with miles of freeway graffiti. Officials say that Ramos is not affiliated with any gang, but fancies himself an artist with a mission to defy authority. Ramos' attorney, deputy public defender Yvonne Velazquez, would not discuss the case. area alone, this guy is good for half a million dollars in vandalism, bare minimum.''ĭeputy City Attorney Peter Shutan has added 28 more misdemeanor charges to the 20 already filed against Ramos, who has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody on $10,000 bail. ``He considers himself an artist, you know. Rob Waters of the Los Angeles Police Department's Northeast Division where the arrest was made. ``That idiot has managed to paint everything in Southern California that I've seen,'' said Lt. Ramos allegedly has inscribed his Chaka tag in fat looping letters taller than his 5-foot-4-inch frame and scribbled it on light posts, lampposts, cement curbs, brick buildings, railroad cars and, it would seem, every available nook and cranny in Los Angeles. The prosecutor who has charged him with 48 counts of vandalism and trespassing calls him the most prolific tagger ever in Los Angeles. 28 by Los Angeles police officers who say that they caught him scrawling ``Chaka'' on a traffic light pole in the Los Angeles community of Lincoln Heights.
CHAKA TAGGER DRIVERS
The neighbors say that Daniel Ramos was never rowdy.īut police say that freeway drivers and anyone who has traveled the streets of Los Angeles might know him better as ``Chaka,'' a notorious ``tagger'' who has left his graffiti mark on at least 10,000 places in the Los Angeles area alone, and has defaced more than $500,000 in property from Southern California's Orange County to San Francisco. A schoolmate remembered watching him leave his house late at night and head for parts unknown, a skateboard under his arm and a knapsack of spray-paint cans on his back. LOS ANGELES - He's an 18-year-old kid who grew up in the housing projects here.
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