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Seattle sues ALURE, LABRAT, and NOMAS — and makes them famous — over alleged illegal tagging

From the city’s lawsuit against the man police say is the NOMAS tagger

“LABRAT”

Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison says her office has filed civil lawsuits against “three prolific taggers responsible for thousands of dollars in damage to private and public property in Seattle.”

The suits are the first under legislation from the city attorney’s office passed by the Seattle City Council this summer opening the way for Davison to pursue civil damages for “criminal graffiti.”

Davison says the ordinance could hit the defendants with a “civil penalty of up to $1,500 per graffiti violation.”

In the lawsuit complaints provided to CHS, the city claims taggers “ALURE,” “LABRAT,” and “NOMAS” were “identified by Seattle Police and are known to be extremely prolific, vandalizing property throughout Seattle.”

Named in the three lawsuits are Zorica Klaich, who Davison’s office says was arrested in June 2024 for criminal trespass where “a fresh ‘ALURES’ tag was observed at the scene,” Robert Holl, an alleged tagger the city says was arrested in 2021 after he was “caught spray painting ‘LABRAT’ on a sign,” and alleged “NOMAS” tagger Eduin Miramotes. Davison’s filing says Miramontes “was named in an injunction action by the City of Los Angeles for his graffiti tagging” —

The separate filings include an overview of the financial damage the city claims graffiti and tagging does in Seattle, details of how each alleged tagger was identified, and an accounting of documented illegal graffiti using the targeted tag provided by Seattle Police investigations.

Photos included in the lawsuits show tags on freeway walls, signs, industrial buildings, and transit structures,

The new legal thrust comes as Mayor Bruce Harrell’s crackdown on graffiti has continued as an issue that was important to the longtime city official even in his days on the city council. Last year, the county touted its pursuit of multiple felony cases against some of the area’s most prolific taggers.

Meanwhile, Harrell and Davison are playing catch up in the run-up to the November election.

The lawsuits do not include total fine amounts sought against each defendant but the City Attorney’s office says its requested legal relief will include an “awards judgment to the City for civil penalties per each illegal graffiti violation,” and restitution for “costs incurred by the City or private property owner for removing each of the illegal graffiti.”

“ALURE”

 

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luther
16 hours ago

Do these losers even have that kind of money? Personally I’d rather see them do some time in jail.

chHill
14 hours ago
Reply to  luther

Yeah, Harrell and the councilmembers that tried to change the ethics code to favor their corrupt interests should do some time in jail…good suggestion

Derek
9 hours ago
Reply to  chHill

Right??? lol Harrell is 100x worse for society than these guys

Kristy G
12 hours ago
Reply to  luther

Yeah because Bruce Harrell and his amazon buddies should have it instead? Free the artists!!!

Caphiller
16 hours ago

Put these scumbags in prison.

Smoothtooperate
15 hours ago
Reply to  Caphiller

Noooo…lol…Keep them busy!

If you are in prison? You are slave labor. That’s the law. Ask the MAGA. They get slave labor(blacks mostly) in a red taker state.

Also? Prisons are huge money makers. Pay taxes. Town has better roads than it deserves. Better water and sewer. Better schools. Better police dept. and so on.

And lastly?

Those prisoners reside as US citizens in those prisons for life in some cases. They do not get to vote. But are CRITICAL to keeping red state power.

The US Census. They count as House of Representative constituents.

In short…

Black folks are slave labor w/o a vote and create a political environment from which there’s no escape. It’s anti-Democratic. It’s diabolical. It’s America.

And yet? Red states STILL can’t balance a budget on their own revenue. Blue states are makers and red states are takers.

We need to put these people to work cleaning up their mess. Work release. Ankle monitors for a full two years. Those are expensive. That way they can’t roam in the night anymore searching for a spot to destroy.

Kevin
6 hours ago

I was about to say you are unhinged with your rant on black people, prison industry, red state, lol…

But your last paragraph saved it, I am in 100% agreement. They should be forced to clean them up.

Derek
15 hours ago
Reply to  Caphiller

Not a felony. Spector disappoint

Derek
15 hours ago

I love their art and there’s no way they will win this case against them

Nandor
11 hours ago
Reply to  Derek

writing your name all over everything isn’t art… it’s pissing

Stumpy
10 hours ago
Reply to  Derek

Hi Derek!!

E15 resitdent
14 hours ago

Throw the book at these losers.

Kristy G
12 hours ago
Reply to  E15 resitdent

They rule and it’s not a felony so…

chHill
14 hours ago

LABRAT is down! Keep ’em safe!!!

What an absolute waste of city resources, as per usual with Harrell. HOUSE THE HOMELESS YOU ASSHOLE. No one cares about graffiti, except the exact type of people you’d expect to–losers.

Balooka
13 hours ago
Reply to  chHill

Actually, we do care about graffiti! No place for homelessness, hunger, lack of healthcare or education or grafftiti in a civil society… perhaps if we had housing, food, healthcare and an education then we’d have a lot less graffiti.. but until then, those who dirty our streets need to be held accountable. I say no jail time, but fines that can only be paid off by painting the walls they defaced, all of them!

Steamed Hams
7 hours ago
Reply to  Balooka

This is absolutely untrue. Try even looking for “ancient Roman graffiti” it’s absolutely hilarious.

30,000 year old cave hands made with red clay and pigment.

One of the most relatable and long lasting traditions in all humanity is to simply say.

I WAS HERE.

ya moron.

chHill
1 hour ago
Reply to  Balooka

Until all advertisements are gone, I’d rather see graffiti every day on every surface. Better than gawking at the BS all the ad-sales brain trusts come up with to convince us that our financial captors are somehow benevolent leaders of society. Give me a LABRAT, ALURE, or NOMAS tag any day over that crap. Hope we see more

ronald
13 hours ago

what a shame. free them

City City City
13 hours ago

Kodak Alure Woman appears to be all the same tagger. Bummer that this individual ruined a nice artist sunset mural on every column under i-5 on James Street and several Koi columns on Jackson Street in the CID. That’s your public art tax money he’s taking with each tag. Each was defaced with the 2-second Kodak scrawl as well as dozens of minority-owned storefronts throughout the CID and Little Saigon in the last years. Send photos to the City and add to the attribution. Prison seems silly. More fitting restorative justice would be 8-hour days repairing every known surface, especially the difficult surfaces of brick and stone that must be carefully cleaned with chemicals and small wire brushes.

Stumpy
9 hours ago
Reply to  City City City

Took the light rail back from the airport rhe other day and so many beautiful murals and artworks on the buildings. But so often, at human level, the daggers had defaced them. Need to distinguish between muralists and taggers.

Kyell
9 hours ago

Graffiti tags (not street mural art) is blight and I’m sick of these locals that think it’s ok. Maybe you can lend your front door as a canvas!

Kevin
6 hours ago

Seattle, especially along I5, literally looks like garbage these days.

I just came back from San Francisco and was shocked how much better San Francisco looked.

We have very LOW standards in this city… and we should be ashamed that we can’t even agree that tagging and vandalism are a huge problem.