Teen arrested in Janesville graffiti incidents
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JANESVILLE—Police have arrested a teenager on suspicion of defacing public and private property with spray-paint graffiti in recent days.
Damien M. Phillips, 17, of 10 S. Concord Drive, Janesville, was arrested Tuesday morning on four felony counts of criminal damage to property involving a school, a cemetery, and a church and 24 other counts of criminal damage to property, according to a news release.
Phillips helped police determine which properties he damaged, according to the news release.
Phillips is being held at the Rock County Jail.
As previously reported, police responded April 6 to graffiti at Oak Hill Cemetery, where eight gravestones and several spots on the cemetery road were painted, and in the 700 block of Suffolk Drive.
Another graffiti spree was reported April 9 in the Creston Park/Mount Zion neighborhood and at Jefferson Elementary School and Mount Zion Methodist Church.
Phillips was discovered after he borrowed an adult's phone to go on Facebook but neglected to close his Facebook page. The adult saw posts related to the incidents and reported them to police, Sgt. Mark Ratzlaff said.
The graffiti was not gang-related, Ratzlaff said.
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