YouTube video leads to $10,000 worth of spray paint in suspected graffiti artist's home

PORTLAND, OregonKOIN) – Thousands of dollars worth of spray paint was seized Tuesday during a search of a suspected graffiti vandal's Portland home after police were tipped off by a YouTube documentary series, according to the Portland Police Bureau. Portland.

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

According to PPB, James S. Fischel, 40, lives in the house and is responsible for tagging Graffiti Is Me Escaping Reality, or GIMER, across the city.

The investigation into Fischel began in mid-May when two police officers were alerted to an episode of the YouTube documentary series CHAOSTOWN titled “Portland Loses the Graffiti War” that featured Fischel, who “gave a lot of effort difficult to hide his identity,” PPB said.

Officers were able to identify Fischel and the house where he hid his stash of spray paint, or as he called it in the docuseries, “every graffiti artist's fantasy,” PPB said.

Even though Fischel is “out of the area,” PPB said authorities are aware of his location and are pursuing criminal charges.