Vallone Calls For Tough Penalties Against Globe-Trotting Graffiti Vandals

City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. has called upon Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown and his Manhattan counterpart, Robert Morgenthau, to take strong action against two Woodside residents who were recently arrested after they returned to the United States after fleeing to escape arrest on anti-graffiti charges.

"These are not a couple of teenagers causing a little mischief," Vallone said, referring to Danielle Bremner and Jim Clay Harper. "These are career criminals who have destroyed property all over the city and possibly all over the world. They are real criminals and they deserve real jail time."

Vallone (D- Astoria), chair of the council Public Safety Committee, said the pair were arrested last week at separate airports, Bremner at O'Hare in Chicago and Harper at John F. Kennedy International, after they had reportedly fled to Europe to escape arrest here.

The lawmaker said law enforcement sources reported the pair spent three months tagging in several different countries, including France, and both currently face criminal mischief and burglary charges for their illicit graffiti efforts in train yards throughout New York City. New indictments are expected from their activities in Queens, Brooklyn and The Bronx, Vallone said.

Vallone said he had written to Brown and Morgenthau asking the two district attorneys to prosecute these offenders to the fullest extent of the law. While many graffiti vandals, especially first offenders, receive plea deals to avoid jail time, the councilmember has advocated that "prolific vandals" should spend time in jail.

Vallone has requested that Brown and Morgenthau seek "substantial" jail time for Bremner and Harper, even if it means forgoing a plea deal and going to trial.

"These two thought they could run from the law, but they just painted themselves into a corner—of a small cell at Rikers," Vallone said.—John Toscano