Grafitti Suspect Arrested In Old Town

Eric Scott Howe caught in the act on Third Street

Humboldt Sentinel
3/12/09
By Sentinel Staff

EUREKA -- “When I get out of jail I’m going to spray paint my town again,” Eric Scott Howe boasted after being caught spray painting Old Town buildings, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Howe was caught near Third and H streets shortly after midnight Thursday by Sgt. Rodrigo Reyna-Sanchez, who saw Howe, 28, spraying the building at 731 Third Street

Rodrigo-Reyna was sent to that address after the building’s owner reported spotting someone in dark clothing with a backpack in the alley behind the building, after being alerted by the rattle of a spray can.

“What you consider illegal, I consider art,” Howe told officers, although he had damaged a mural on the Times Printing building on Third Street. Officers describe the graffiti as tagger or crew; Howe isn’t known to belong to a gang.

Officers discovered Howe spray-painted at least a dozen commercial buildings and PG&E power poles as well as municipal signs and dumpsters.

The vandalized buildings were spread across four blocks between Second and Third streets from F through I streets.

Howe has been jailed for felony vandalism and carrying a concealed weapon, also a felony. He had a hunting knife with a six-inch blade and two cans of spray paint.