Four More Writers Arrested At LA Highrise
The Los Angeles Police Department made multiple arrests for the second time within a week at a prominent skyscraper covered in graffiti in downtown Los Angeles.
On Tuesday afternoon, officers from the department’s Metropolitan division, with the assistance of patrol officers, apprehended four individuals.
Around 1 p.m., the police conducted a search of the Oceanview Plaza development, which had garnered attention in the news the previous week due to extensive tagging on 27 floors of the $1-billion structure.
Following the search, authorities arrested Sebastian Zoro-Gutierrez (29), Andrew Rios (30), Mauro Aguilar (35), and Jessie Carreon (44) for trespassing.
According to county records, Zoro-Gutierrez was cited and released just before midnight, while Rios, Aguilar, and Carreon were cited and released around 2 a.m. on Wednesday.
Zoro-Gutierrez is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 27, with the remaining individuals set to appear the following day.
These arrests occurred a week after police detained two Los Angeles residents, Roberto Perez (25) and Daniel Ramirez (35), on Jan. 30 in response to a vandalism call.
Additionally, officers cited a driver allegedly involved in spray painting vandalism on Thursday.
Furthermore, authorities are investigating a report of gunfire at the Oceanview Plaza on Friday.
Recently shared video footage depicts the daring actions of some taggers who have gone to extreme lengths to graffiti the building’s exterior.
In the video, a tagger is observed hugging a vertical post at least a dozen stories above ground, facing away from the LA Live entertainment center across Figueroa Street, before carefully navigating a shallow ledge to reach their canvas.
Construction on the Oceanwide Plaza, a mixed-use complex including condominiums, a hotel, and retail spaces, funded by a Chinese developer, was halted in 2019.
Despite pledges from Beijing-based Oceanwide Holdings to resume construction later that year, financial constraints prevented progress.
As a result, the project, adjacent to the Crypto.com Arena, remains incomplete.
[LAtimes.com]
Originally, the developers of the highrise buildings refused to press charges on the writers that were caught going & coming from the building. I don’t know how the coppers are gonna handle the situation but if there’s nobody pressing charges there really isn’t a case. We’ll see how this whole thing plays out.
