Bend transient charged in 100s of graffiti taggings

Months of police work involving Bend’s new crime-records analyst has led to more than 250 charges against a transient accused of engaging in graffiti taggings throughout the city over the past three months, police said Tuesday.

Adrian Allen McCowan, 24, was arrested by citation when his van was searched under a search warrant near Boyd Acres Road and Brinson Boulevard late Monday morning, said Bend police crime analyst Nancy Watson, adding that McCowan was cooperative at the time.

Police began investigating the series of graffiti “tagging” around November of last year, said Lt. Chris Carney. The investigation involved several officers, detectives and the crime analyst, hired under the department’s new “intelligence-led policing” data analysis effort, Watson said.

Watson, who began her new position in late October, said she reads the police reports on a daily basis, looking for trends and similarities, and “could see a lot of similar graffiti markings,” and spoke with the officers involved.

Carney said tracking those patterns and cases led to Monday’s search and arrest. He said McCowan is believed responsible for at least 223 “taggings” at over 40 locations throughout the city, including private businesses, city facilities and Bend Park and Recreation as well.

It’s believed the total cost to remove the graffiti tops $10,000, Carney said.

McCowan faces two counts of first-degree criminal mischief, nine counts of second-degree criminal mischief, 28 counts of third-degree criminal mischief and 223 counts of unlawfully applying graffiti.