Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Man charged with vandalizing downtown buildings with spray paint
Criminal charges were filed Monday against a La Crosse man accused of spray painting graffiti on a number of downtown businesses.
Nicholas S. Dygert, 23, of 131 S. Ninth St., was charged in La Crosse County Circuit Court with five counts of graffiti.
Dygert was seen painting an unknown symbol with blue spray paint on a building on the 400 block of Jay Street just before 1 a.m. Sunday, according to the criminal complaint.
Police were unable to find anyone at that site, but later in the morning an officer saw someone matching Dygert’s description spray painting on another downtown building.
Although Dygert had blue paint on his hands, a can of spray paint in the front of his hooded sweatshirt and several spray nozzles in his pants pockets, he denied painting buildings, according to the complaint.
Dygert reportedly told police he was painting on canvas “at a local business where people gather to paint on canvas and drink.” But Dygert left his “comfort zone” and was stopped by police.
A scan of downtown buildings found similar symbols in blue paint on buildings at 423 and 417 Jay St., 418 and 400 Main St. and 112 S. Fifth Ave.
Dan Springer can be reached at dspringer@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8269.
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