A Canyon Country man linked to more than 1,900 graffiti tagging incidents within the Santa Clarita Valley returned to court Thursday where a judge ordered that he pay more than $16,000.

Christian Pacheco, 25, was ordered to pay $16,177.79 plus 10 percent annual interest in restitution to the City of Santa Clarita, according to officials with the District Attorney’s Office.

Pacheco pleaded no contest on Feb. 21 to one felony count of vandalism causing over $400 in damage (graffiti) and was sentenced to 16 months in county jail, with 21 days’ credit for time served, according to court records.

He was arrested on charges of felony vandalism for graffiti tagging that allegedly occurred between January 2018 through December 2018, according to officials.

After a year-long investigation by the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, the prolific tagger was apprehended by the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s COBRA detectives.

“The yearlong investigation included efforts from patrol deputies, COBRA detectives and members of the city’s graffiti removal program team,” said Sgt. Brian Shreves, who oversees the station’s COBRA team. “It was important for us to identify and apprehend the suspect.”

Pacheco was identified by detectives with the help of the City of Santa Clarita’s Graffiti Removal team, who uses a software program to document all graffiti incidents within city limits.

“Pacheco’s criminal actions were both a financial burden, as well as an eyesore to the residents and business owners of Santa Clarita Valley,” said Shreves.

The tracker organizes the graffiti in a database, which then tracks the location of identical tags that can then be displayed on a map or a list, revealing patterns in place, time and frequency, according to Sheriff’s officials.

Sheriff’s station detectives can view a list of the top taggers in a certain area and look at the patterns of when and where the tagging occurred to identify the suspect.

The acts of vandalism reportedly associated to Pacheco were documented in public right-of-way areas that included sidewalks, walls, signs and buildings located off of major streets such as Sierra Highway, Via Princessa and Soledad Canyon Road, according to officials.

The majority of the graffiti was visible to the public in places of businesses, schools and parks.

Pacheco, who was on active probation for multiple crimes, was arrested and booked at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

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