Michaela Bourgeois and Elise Haas

5 hours ago

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Thousands of dollars’ worth of spray paint was seized during a search of an alleged graffiti vandal’s Portland home on Tuesday after officers were tipped off by a YouTube docuseries, according to the Portland Police Bureau.

Authorities served a search warrant to the Centennial neighborhood home on Southeast 174th Avenue, where they found 1,500 cans of spray paint, and other vandalism materials, worth more than $10,000.

“This was the motherlode of graffiti evidence that we’ve ever found,” PPB Officer Nathan Kirby-Glatkowski told KOIN 6 News.

James S. Fischel lives in the home and is responsible for Graffiti Is Me Escaping Reality, or GIMER, tags across the city, PPB said.

The investigation into Fischel, 40, began in mid-May when two officers were alerted to an episode of the CHAOSTOWN YouTube docuseries titled “Portland is losing the graffiti war” which features Fischel, who “went to great lengths to conceal his identity,” PPB said.

“When we saw this documentary, the CHAOSTOWN documentary, we decided to make this a priority,” Kirby-Glatkowski said.

The officers were able to identify Fischel and the home where he stashed his spray paint supply, or as he called it in the docuseries, “’every graffiti writer’s fantasy,’” PPB said.

This was by far the biggest graffiti bust ever done by PPB officers.

“We filled up three 13-passenger vans completely with graffiti supplies and evidence,” he said. “This is a two-car residential garage that was floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall packed with graffiti supplies.”

When KOIN 6 News knocked on Fischel’s door, the people inside didn’t want to talk — although they were heard saying, “The news is here!”

While police found Fischel’s graffiti supplies, they are still looking for him — but said they do know he is out of the area and are pursuing criminal charges.