Notorious Graffiti Vandal in Custody Again

Chaka--the graffiti vandal who found fame by scrawling his name across the state 10,000 times and then found God--found himself in trouble again Saturday.

Los Angeles police arrested 24-year-old Daniel “Chaka” Ramos after he was allegedly caught painting graffiti Friday night in the Boyle Heights area.

Ramos remained in custody Saturday in lieu of $250 bail, said Officer Helen Lloyd, a police spokeswoman.

“He was booked on a misdemeanor vandalism charge--malicious defacing of property” in the 200 block of North Breed Street, Lloyd said.

The arrest shocked some who have worked to help Ramos turn his life around. But it was not a surprise to others who say he apparently has graffiti paint in his blood.

Investigators’ reports did not indicate what Ramos was allegedly painting Friday night. If it was the name “Chaka,” it was a familiar one.

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Authorities say Ramos left that graffiti moniker on walls, freeway bridges and signposts at least 10,000 times over about three years before he was arrested in 1990 after being caught scrawling “Chaka” with a marking pen on a traffic light pole in Lincoln Heights.

At the time, prosecutors labeled him the most prolific tagger vandal ever in Los Angeles. They asserted that the fat, chunky letters of his signature could be found on flat surfaces from Orange County to San Francisco. They said he was responsible for $500,000 in property damage.

Ramos was placed on three years’ probation and ordered to undergo two years of psychological counseling and spend 1,560 hours cleaning graffiti.

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But 24 hours after being released from jail in 1991, he was apprehended at the Central Arraignment Court in downtown Los Angeles after allegedly scrawling “Chaka” on a courthouse elevator door--on his way to visit a probation officer.

Ramos was sentenced to a three-month stint in a county “boot camp” after that. When he emerged, he painted himself as a changed man.

A group of local artists rallied to help him apply to Cal State Northridge. A television producer sought him out for a documentary. A graphic arts company inquired about marketing the Chaka tag, and a public relations firm volunteered to represent him.

But he was late in applying for financial aid needed to get him into the university, and none of the other opportunities panned out either. By 1994 Ramos had signed on with Youth Academy U.S.A., a Lancaster-based religious camp for unruly young men.

There, he seemingly turned himself around once more, emerging as a “special projects coordinator” for the Christian ministry that ran the camp. Once he was back in the L.A. area, Ramos turned his attention to painting church buses.

“I’m shocked that he was arrested,” said Pastor Albert Wise of the Del Aire Assembly of God Church in Hawthorne, whose buses were among those Ramos painted.

But his congregation is willing to forgive, Wise said Saturday. “People with problems have periods of retreat,” he said. Helping hands should be extended “as many times as it takes.”

Artist Chaz Borequez, one of those who sought to send Ramos to Cal State Northridge, was also surprised. “He had gone through rehab in Lancaster. He found God and he found a path he could follow. It sounded like he had found contentment,” Borequez said Saturday.

Hollywood-based graffiti artist Mear--whose work is now displayed at the Zero One gallery--said that a few months ago Ramos was doing pencil sketches and logo designs and seemed to have investors willing to back his work.

“He needs to chill--not to risk his freedom,” Mear said. “He needs to become successful in an art form somewhere; otherwise he might return to the streets, to what gave him his initial fame.”

Another Los Angeles graffiti artist, Anthony Martin, pointed out that when it comes to graffiti, there’s a fine line between legal and illegal art.

“Sometimes you think you’re doing the right thing, and it’s not the right thing,” Martin said. “My advice for Chaka is to stay focused on God and spirituality. And be careful.”

Times staff writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this story.