OCEAN CITY — Two Montgomery County men were charged on Thursday with 24 total counts of malicious destruction of property for an April 19 graffiti spree in downtown Ocean City during which several businesses, signs and vehicles were “tagged.”
The Ocean City Criminal Investigation Division has charged the two Montgomery County men, identified as Raul A. Vasquez, Jr., 20, of Silver Spring; and Jose A. Zavala, 20, of Chevy Chase, for the graffiti spree sometime in the early morning hours on April 19 from 16th Street to 20th Street. OCPD officers first discovered graffiti in the area of 17th Street and Philadelphia Ave. around 5 a.m. on April 19.
After a canvas of the area, officers located approximately 45 graffiti taggings affecting multiple businesses and citizens. The spray paint spree included restaurant walls, shopping center windows, motel windows and walls and multiple vehicles. With the assistance from area businesses, OCPD officers were quickly able to determine that suspects from outside the area were responsible for the vandalism.
During the investigation, OCPD detectives were closely with police in Montgomery County after areas in that county experienced a similar rash of graffiti. The investigation was able to link Vasquez and Zavala with graffiti sprees in both Ocean City and Montgomery County.
Ocean City Police detectives have charged both Vasquez and Zavala with 21 counts of malicious destruction of property less than $1,000 and four counts of malicious destruction of property greater than $1,000. Each was issued a summons to appear on court in Worcester County on Thursday.