UPDATED -- Jason Williams, aka Revok, has just been sentenced to 180 days in jail for violating his probation on a previous misdemeanor charge. The LA Times reports that Williams was sentenced in a Van Nuys courtroom for having "violated his probation on a misdemeanor vandalism charge by failing to pay adequate restitution to his victims."
PREVIOUSLY -- MOCA-featured artist Revok (also known as Jason Williams) was arrested last Thursday at LAX while attempting to board a plane to Ireland. According to a press release from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, the "high profile graffiti vandal" was arrested for failing to pay damages to the victims of his previous vandalism crimes. After the arrest, police were able to find more evidence that could link Williams to vandalism on the Metro blue line. Revok is associated with graffiti crew MSK, or "Mad Society Kings."
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Pictures and captions of Revok's work by Gregory Linton of MELROSEandFAIRFAX.
Gregory Linton, editor of local street art blog MELROSEandFAIRFAX had this to say about the arrest:
The LAPD seem to be fighting back against the success of MOCA and bucking the acceptance of graffiti as a mainstream art form. And even though the LAPD kept touting the increase of graffiti activity in and around Little Tokyo area where the museum is located, they had no arrests to show for it, and had botched the one stop they had made (Space Invader). They wanted a big name arrest to save face, and they got Revok on a probation violation. Its unfortunate that someone had to take the fall, and even more unfortunate it had to be Revok.
Blog LA Taco points out that "the bail for this 'dangerous criminal,' who is widely considered one of the world’s best graffiti artists, is an insane $320,000." LA Taco compares it to other bail amounts that have made the news recently:
- Child Molestor: 150,000
- Leaving a Baby in a 115 degree car: 100,000
- Ripping off an Entire City: 100,000