By Jeremy Walsh
A Woodside woman’s alleged habit of spray−painting trains around the globe led to fame but also her downfall, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said last week.
Danielle Bremner, 27, was charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti and possession of graffiti instruments, Brown said. She was arraigned April 1 and released on her own recognizance. If convicted, she faces up to seven years in prison, the DA said. Her next court date was set for April 15.
Bremner allegedly sprayed her tags “Erin” and “Dani” as well as other markings on subway cars on various Queens lines over three years, the DA said.
“According to the charges, the defendant is reportedly well−known in the international graffiti community — and to New Yorkers who have had to put up with her ego−driven vandalism of public property, which has cost taxpayers thousands of dollars to clean up,” Brown said in a statement.
Bremner is accused of spray−painting her tags on six subway cars between Sept. 30, 2005, and April 7, 2008, causing more than $6,000 in damages. These included a No. 7 train subway car laid up at 111th Street and Roosevelt Avenue; a J subway car at the 111th Street station; a No. 7 train subway car laid up at the Main Street station; an A subway car at the Broad Channel station; and an F line subway car at the Parsons Boulevard station, Brown said.
Bremner and her boyfriend, Jim Harper, were arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in August 2008 and charged with criminal mischief and burglary for allegedly defacing MTA property at railyards in Manhattan, Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau’s office said. Bremner pleaded guilty to criminal mischief in that case, according to court records. Her sentencing was set for April 20.
City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D−Astoria) said the couple had just returned from a three−month vacation in Europe spent spray−painting their signatures in several countries.
Authorities executing a search warrant at Bremner’s apartment in July 2008 recovered more than 450 spray cans, 50 latex gloves and 10 permanent markers as well as bottles of etching acid, ink, a bolt cutter and a pair of pliers, Brown said.
Investigators also recovered Polaroid photographs of the tag “Dani,” 52 pieces of paper with graffiti drawings and several digital photographs from her e−mail account depicting her tags on trains and one that shows her spray painting her tag on a non−New York City train, Brown said.
Published reports linked the couple to the graffiti crew Made U Look, a Chicago−based group most notorious in New York for spray−painting an entire subway train with the slogan “cash is king” and a depiction of Rich Uncle Pennybags from the classic board game Monopoly in December 2006.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
