Felony Taggers in Custody

At 1:00am on today's date, a Whittier Police Officer was patrolling to the rear of 10445 Slusher Avenue when he came upon a group of taggers spray painting the wall of a business that backs up to the rail road tracks. The Officer then co-ordinated assisting units and the suspects were soon surrounded. One suspect used a ladder and was on the roof plying his skills when Officers flushed three others into the waiting arms of Officers and, out of breath, they quickly surrendered. The fourth suspect eluded apprehension by jumping off a 30’ wall, wrestling with an Officer and sprinting away. He was later captured at his home in Pico Rivera and charged with felony vandalism and resisting arrest. All were adults and from either Montebello or Pico Rivera. The arrestees were identified as Jose Trujillo (4/5/87), Michael Padua (3/5/84), Christopher Mariz (5/7/86), and Steven Faustinos (5/6/86).