Tagger sentenced to one year for violating graffiti probation
PORTLAND, Ore. – A Portland tagger was sentenced to one year in jail on Friday for violating his graffiti-related probation, police said.
Isaiah Joel Schwebke, 33, was placed on probation in 2009 after a tagging-related conviction. That’s when Schwebke began targeting locations outside Portland for graffiti, according to police.
Police said Schwebke first caught their attention in 1996, when he habitually used a personal moniker in graffiti on private properties in Wilsonville and Tigard.
Schwebke has also been linked to graffiti in California, Washington, Georgia and Alaska.
His sentence includes one year in jail, extended probation and $2,300 in restitution.
Portland Police Sgt. Pete Simpson said when officers talk with people at community meetings, graffiti is consistently one of the top complaints. He said graffiti is not a victimless crime because cleaning it up can cost a lot of money.
They should put him to work repainting public buildings. Seems he has an interest in it.
One would think that at 33 he would have grown up. It appears that isn't the case.
Cane him publicaly. One stroke for each letter in his graffiffi spree then put him in jail.Â
33?!  Dude, seriously.  GROW THE F__K UP!!
Those zits on his forehead are desperately trying to form into the letter "L".
Time to grow up.
I bet he does stop tagging after this. Sitting in the can for that long over something so silly at his age will likely have a profound effect on him.Â
Perhaps they should make him paint every day while he's in jail. Maybe paint the entire jail? Then send him around to other public buildings that need painting. Have him paint until he hates it.
 @Owt_Raged What he should be forced to do, on an on-call shall-respond-or-else basis, is force him to scrub graffiti.
How about in addition to jail time, restitution, etc., he has to work at cleaning up all his tags?
Goatee boy just doesn't seem to get the message. Destruction of private property is wrong, illeagal, against the law and disrespectful !!!
He can wear that pink shirt while he is getting "tagged" in jail.
Loser. But I am surprised he is not Latino. No joke. Look around from Beaverton to Hillsboro it looks like Los Angeles with all the tagging. Crazy and gross.  I would never move to SW, its little LA.
33yrs. old and stlll acting like a grade-schooler. Some people just can't seem to grow up and act mature. Chopping off his hands would seem like a just retribution to some, but then society would end up paying to support him because of his inability to work. So society would end up being punished for the crimes of someone else. So that punishment won't work. Same with outlawing guns, don't make the many pay for the stupidity of the few.
 @None We already support thousands of people in jails and prisons all over our country. and when they get out we support them because they can't get a job. everyone arrested except people with money are a burden to the taxpayers.
Some caning, castration, and chopping off the hands would be a better fix. He'd still live. Wouldn't want to give him an easy out.
 @MrBear A little harsh don't you think? He's a vandal not an ax murderer.
 @MrBear don't worry in the future when the muslims become the majority voters in america they will bring back chopping off of hands.
 @32jim2  @MrBear Huh? LOL you make it seem like America is dying.Â
Glad he's doing something constructive with his life.Â
Boy, you'd figure a 33 yr old would outgrow tagging by now....grow up dude.
 @deejm2112 maybe if he could afford canvas he could make a living.
Another indicator of why probation doesn't always work. But it makes everyone happy by keeping the jail population down! Ha!
 @jpkÂ
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"Another indicator of why probation doesn't always work"
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Nothing "always" works for anything. Even if you jail a person they can still vandalize, hurt or murder other people and steal/destroy property.
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But if it does work at all 9and it appears it does) then it beats spending $84.81 a day giving them food housing and entertainment.
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http://www.oregon.gov/doc/pubaff/docs/pdf/ib_53_quick_facts.pdf
The key word is "always". It's just that I've been involved in too many cases where common sense would have indicated that probation was inappropriate, especially if the suspect had a lengthy history of offending in the same way that he/she was now once again awarded probation as a reward. And yes, of course, once in jail or eventually in prison, they can violate inmate rules and regulations, or commit new crimes, resulting in new charges, or loss of good time; possibly even getting a consecutive or concurrent sentence to the one they are already serving. But what choice does society have? Probably based on past "performance", one time for probation, and succeeding crimes should result in automatic jail time. It is a balancing act between spending money keeping them incarcerated in comfort, versus spending investigative resources locating them all over again for probation violation, and going through the whole court process again.Â
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@gunnutz  It won't matter - he will be back on the streets after a couple week due to "overcrowding" since the overly-PC/humanitarian crowd finds it offensive if CRIMINALS are not given the same rights as the law abiding citizens. I say pack them by the dozen into the little cells - these criminals should not be afforded more comforts than the homeless.
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 @wonderingÂ
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No if he's released it will be because there are 2,272 measure 11 convictions each year that have minimum sentences of over 6 years and no relief by judges because the measure expressly forbids it.
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Thus property crimes are nearly forgotten by the judicial system and thus law enforcement spends very little time on them because they know that people will just be released after 10% of their sentence is served.
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It could be worse; we could be California where this guy would have just gotten a slip from the jailer on his way in promising he won't do it again. That would happen 3 times before he served a whole day in jail and 9 times before he was eventually sent to serve his entire sentence.
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And just an interesting statistic, 82% of people who go to prison for measure 11 offences get either an appointed attorney (legal aide) or none. Only 18% who use their own end up serving prison time.
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http://www.oregon.gov/CJC/docs/measure_11_analysis_final.pdf
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wow one year in jail for tagging but let the killers out 5 years short of their sentence.
 @32jim2Â
It's not one year for tagging. It's one year for ignoring the terms of his probation and defying the courts. He agreed to the conditions when he accepted the probation deal.
Most folks will plead to probation conditions, knowing the chance of getting caught violating probation are remote. Probation officers have hugh case loads, and most of their clients have difficulty in complying with all the conditions they have. And then that are the most grievous violators than have to be located and arrested at cost to the resources of the law enforcement agencies that have to find them and arrest them. And after arrest, most of the violators get a slap on the wrist sanction jail time, and get to go out on probation again! It really is a revolving door! Â
 @jpkÂ
True enough. This guy left enough pawprints all over the landscape, he was just begging for the reaming that he got.