‘Mural’ spray painting of park buildings ends with arrest

A Saugus woman was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of felony vandalism for allegedly spray-painting a mural of graffiti on three buildings at Santa Clarita Park.

About 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, deputies responded to reports of a woman spray painting buildings, Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station said.

“An eyewitness told deputies they saw a woman with several cans of spray paint,

and that she was spray painting a mural over three walls,” she said.

“The building that was spray painted was the main public building located in the park,” Kevin Strauss, spokesman for the city of Santa Clarita said Wednesday.

Santa Clarita Park Aquatics Center staff approached the woman, who refused to leave her vehicle, officials said.

“The employees asked her if she was authorized to spray paint, and she said, ‘No.’ The woman then packed up her stuff and took off,” Miller said.

Eyewitnesses gave a description of the car and the license plate to deputies who found a vehicle matching the suspect’s description parked on Guadilamar Drive, a street just off of Seco Canyon Road.

The deputy found that the vehicle was unoccupied.

With the help of a sergeant and another deputy, they knocked on doors of nearby homes.

At one of the homes, deputies located the suspect and while they were there, they spotted several stolen checks that were allegedly forged by the suspect, Miller said.

Tiffany Thomas, 31, was arrested on suspicion of forgery and felony vandalism since the alleged damage amounted to more than $400.

The graffiti has since been removed by city staffers, said Kevin Strauss, city spokesman.

“Once the call came in to staff, the tag was immediately removed,” Stauss said.