Police ‘tag’ suspects in Media graffiti incidents
MEDIA >> Three men have been identified as suspects in an hours-long vandalism spree in Media and Upper Providence over the weekend.
Media Police Chief Martin Wusinich said the men, identified only as being residents of the Media area, had admitted to spray painting a number of signs, electrical/utility boxes, walls, and fences sometime in the overnight hours of Saturday into Sunday. Wusinich said the tagging went on for about two hours and did not feature any obscene markings. Rather, the tags identified a local music group.
Media police didn’t receive many reports about the graffiti Sunday morning, according to Wusinich, but a call from an attentive father gave police a good lead to identify the culprits.
“We got a phone call from a parent, a father of a suspect, who stated that he recognized one of the tags as possibly belonging to a musical group that his son participates in,” said Wusinich. “We eventually, with Media and Upper Providence police, interviewed the individual who did the spray paint.”
That one person provided police information on two other males involved in the tagging.
“We identified all three and they admitted to their roles,” said Wusinich.
The area of damaged occurred along the border areas of Media and Upper Providence along Providence Road (Route 252). Wusinich said the three men took a long loop that
started from Farnum Road up Providence Road to the five points intersection, back down Providence over to Jackson Street in Media and down to Baker Street in the borough.
Why the three men allegedly did the spray painting was not disclosed. The same men have been cleaning up their own vandalism throughout the borough since owning up to the acts, which Wusinich said he was
happy about, but then police are still trying to figure out some places they hit before they clean up their tracks.
Upper Providence Police Chief David Montella could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Media and Upper Providence are still investigating. Criminal charges are pending in the case so the names of the suspects have not yet been released.