An 18-year-old Arlington woman was in custody Tuesday in connection with a vandalism incident this month in which anti-gay slurs and other vulgar messages were spray-painted on vehicles and homes in an Arlington neighborhood.
The teen, who was arrested Monday, was the last of five teen-agers taken into custody.Arlington police identified her as Morgen Rae Aubuchon. She was in the Arlington City Jail.Also arrested were John Austin Cartwright, 17; Seth Stephen Hatcher, 18; and Daniel Sibley, 18, all of Arlington.A 16-year-old surrendered last week and was turned over to Tarrant County juvenile authorities. She was not identified.The June 10 case involved at least 13 criminal mischief incidents near the 1100 block of Crowley Road in Arlington.Home surveillance cameras caught the teens in the act, Arlington police have said. Police are treating the case as a hate crime.A video shows the teens spray-painting property, and another video shows a vehicle that police believe the teens had used that morning, police said.Authorities have said that some of the teens lived in the neighborhood but that investigators did not have evidence that they knew their victims.They face a charge of graffiti causing $1,500 to $20,000 damage, a state jail felony.Police believe at least one house was targeted because a lesbian couple lives there. A sticker on one of their vehicles could have given the teens a clue, authorities said.The other graffiti painted in the northwest Arlington neighborhood included racial slurs, hateful messages and derogatory images.In nearby Dalworthington Gardens, police said the Arlington suspects were not responsible for a June 7 incident in which racial slurs were painted on a restaurant building and a vehicle.And Grand Prairie police said they don’t believe that the Arlington suspects spray-painted graffiti in a neighborhood there June 12.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
