Occurred on February 20, 2012 01:49 AM           Graffiti             2000 Airline               1202210014               

An alert officer patrolling the neighborhood looking for graffiti vandals spotted a suspicious heavy-set male wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood covering his head walking on the 1800 block of Airline Road.   The officer saw a second subject run east down a side street nearby.  The officer continued on as if he wasn’t suspicious, but once out of sight of the two men, he doubled back, parked his patrol car in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 2000 block of Airline, and approached the area on foot.  As soon as the officer got out of his patrol car, he smelled a strong odor of fresh spray paint in the air.  The officer then noticed fresh red spray paint on a metal electrical box near the north entrance of the apartments, as well as fresh blue spray paint on a wooden privacy fence nearby. The officer began walking through the apartment complex and spotted two men sitting inside a parked Dodge pickup near the entrance to the complex.  The officer recognized the passenger in the truck as the same heavy-set man that he had seen walking on Airline moments earlier.  In the rear cup holder of the pickup, the officer observed a can of spray paint. Protruding from beneath the seat, the officer saw two more cans of spray paint. Upon closer examination, the officer noticed two sets of footprints upon the dew covered grass leading from the truck to the vandalized electrical box and fence and back to the pickup. Officers removed both men from the pickup; neither lived in the apartments nor could either offer a plausible explanation as to why they were there. On the hands of the passenger, Rodolfo Molina (DOB: 3-7-94), officers observed specks of red paint, matching the color of the spray paint on the electrical box.  Officers arrested Molina and the driver, Robert Medina (DOB: 8-2-90) for graffiti.  While searching the truck, officers discovered a small amount of marijuana, and three spray paint cans. Both offenders were transported to the City Detention Center and the truck was impounded.