By Connor Adams Sheets
A Chicago teen has been charged with a number of crimes for allegedly spraying graffiti on subway cars on various Queens lines over approximately three years, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said last week.
Zebadiah Arrington, 19, an alleged member of the Chicago-based graffiti crew “CMW,” or “Chicago’s Most Wanted,” who used the tag “ZEB,” was arraigned last Thursday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Gene Lopez on charges of criminal mischief, making graffiti and criminal trespass, according to Brown. He was held on $10,000 bail and must return to court Nov. 10. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.
“The investigation leading to the charges against the defendant has revealed that he allegedly traveled to Queens specifically to deface our mass transit system — causing thousands of dollars in damages and leaving his unsightly graffiti markings on our subway cars,” Brown said in a statement. “Graffiti is a serious crime against the quality of life of all New Yorkers and will not be tolerated. We have spent considerable effort and money cleaning up graffiti vandalism in decades past. We will not permit the scourge of graffiti to overtake our city ever again.”
Arrington allegedly caused more than $7,600 in damage by spraying his tag as well as a number of other markings, including “Bomb the System” and “CMW,” on seven subway cars between Oct. 19, 2007, and Jan. 4, 2010, according to Brown.
While executing search warrants on Arrington’s e-mail account, police recovered photographs sent shortly after the trains were defaced of the tagged subway cars matching those Brown alleges he tagged, according to Brown.
More specifically, Arrington allegedly tagged an A train laid up at 104th Street and Liberty Avenue, an F train laid up at the Jamaica train yard, an A train laid up at the Lefferts Boulevard station, a No. 7 train laid up at the Main Street-Flushing station, an A train laid up at the 111th Street-Liberty Avenue station, an F train laid up at the Van Wyck Boulevard-Briarwood station and an F train laid up at the Parsons Boulevard station, Brown said.
Arrington’s attorney, Florian Miedel, did not return a request for comment.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
