Daredevil tagger 'Buket' gets nearly four years in prison

"Buket," the daredevil tagger who gained Internet notoriety for his brazen, daylight tagging of a sign over the 101 Freeway and vandalism of a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus, was sentenced today to three years and eight months in state prison.

Cyrus Yazdani, 26, was on probation after pleading guilty in December to 32 felony vandalism counts. In July, he pleaded no contest to one count of felony vandalism and accepted financial responsibility for five vandalism incidents. Four of the counts were dismissed today. Yazdani must pay $117,196 in restitution.

Los Angeles County sheriff's transit investigators arrested Yazdani in May after "Buket" tags appeared on the 7th Street Bridge, the Cesar Chavez Bridge and in the 4200 block of South Broadway.

Sheriff's officials said Yazdani was found in possession of scribers, which are used in tagging. He also had paint splatter on his clothing.

In December, after pleading guilty Yazdani was sentenced to 10 months in county jail, 256 hours of graffiti removal duty and five years' formal probation. He was released from jail based on credit for time served.

That case stemmed from a tagging spree between 2005 and 2007, during which, authorities said, the 26-year-old San Jose State graduate slapped his tags on buses, freeway walls and overpasses as well as the concrete lining of the Los Angeles River.

Yazdani became something of an Internet sensation when he plastered his "Buket" bomb 20 feet above the busy Hollywood Freeway -- vandalism that was captured on videotape and posted with a rap soundtrack on YouTube and numerous tagger-related blogs.

Another daylight attack, which was also videotaped, appeared to show "Buket" applying his moniker to a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus as passersby and passengers watched in surprise.

A YouTube video that captured both tagging exploits has more than 450,000 views. But the notoriety also got the attention of sheriff's transit investigators, who arrested Yazdani in May.

Sheriff's officials said they had evidence that Yazdani had marked hundreds of freeway overpasses, concrete walls and transit buses across the state and southern Nevada.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers identified at least 20 "Buket" scrawlings along a stretch of the river spanning a couple of miles, causing an estimated $60,000 in damage.

—Andrew Blankstein

Photo: A Buket tag in the Los Angeles River captured in May 2008.

Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

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Comments

[Schigolch]

Good riddance

[Bad Planning]

lol, he definitely kicked the BUCKET this time..je je je je

[jae]

4 years for tagging? They should be giving out time like that for other offenses and make the taggers paint over there own work and fine them, but I don't think putting taggers in an over populated jail is going to accomplish much other then getting other more serious felons released early.

[Mark]

Nice.

[El Diablo]

Spray paints his ass to the wall for target practice.

[Robert Williams]

Why that's only $88.78 a day! Why don't we hang him up for forty-four months?

[KURO]

BRAVO! I love, love, love knowing idiots like this will be sitting in a cage.

The guy is on probation for tagging and does it again? On Youtube? $60k of taxpayer money? Yep, he deserves his years in prison. Hope the rest of the taggers see this and think twice.

[El Diablo]

Most definitely a LOSER, 26 y/o living with mommy, grad from San Jose State. Probably works (ed) at Mickey Ds. Typical lowlife thinks that it's art - just trash.

[tsloopy]

"Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies and officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers identified at least 20 "Buket" scrawlings along a stretch of the river spanning a couple of miles, causing an estimated $60,000 in damage."

I have seen the "banks" of the LA River. How can anyone claim that graffiti has done $60,000 damage ? In fact one can claim that the graffiti has improved the appearance of a river that is nothing more than miles of depressing concrete.

[Leslie Palma]

Trying to register

[Ryan D]

Personally I'd rather see him have to repay more money than have my tax dollars jail the idiot.
Regardless, the tagging issue is out of control, and they do need to crack down on these jerks.
26 yrs old, college degree, and he tags his sig for BSD notoriety.
What a joke.

[John Meek]

And to all you people that think this guy is a loser, I think you're bigger losers than him. Graffiti is a form of art, and just because he's not getting paid a lot of money for his work, he is still expressing himself and doing what he loves. Is "BUKET" really that offensive to any of you? Would you rather look at a blank cement wall than see some cool text on it? Plus it's interesting because the meaning of "BUKET" is unclear and it's cool to let your mind wander and think about what it might mean. I bet all you haters are sitting at jobs you hate right now just to pay the bills while this guy was able to go out and do what he loves everyday. That's really living. I'd rather live at home with my parents and be able to pursue my passion than live on my own and have some stupid job that I hate.

[bww]

really no excuse for this at all and punishment before wasn't successful....i'm sure as soon as he gets out he'll be back at the tagging... he should get life with no parole...

[Tom]

This guy really needed to grow up. 26 yrs old and still doing this? Prison will be good for him because we don't need him out here doing that garbage. I hope it sends a clear message to other wannabe taggers. Now he is sort of famous and who really cares?

[Josh H. Billiard Ball]

Both his extremely severe sentence and grossly OTT fine are both a travesty of justice and an extreme failure on behalf of the 'grown ups' to understand what is really going on here and put things in perspective. I hope he appeals, and the judge who sentenced him gets a reprimand.

[Arietta Sollini]

This anti-social loser should have been stripped naked and spray painted neon lady pink, bright lime green, sun yellow, and startling blue hue THEN given 44 months in prison that should have been 44 months in prison AND having to scrub the crappy art that has become such an eyesore to the majority from every place he has so defiantly sprayed it. What a sad excuse for an "artist" - imagine if he focused his talents on a real artisitc journey...maybe prison will reform him. We hope so.

[IH8TAGGERS]

tsloopy.......YOU ARE AN IDIOT!!!!!!! WHAT GIVES TAGGERS THE RIGHT TO TAG PRIVATE PROPERTY? HOW CAN 1 CAN MAKE IT BETTER?

[Rational Observer]

This human slime-ball deserves a sentence five times as long. He got off lucky. If this be "art" why doesn't the jerk put it on canvas and sell it? The answer: Because it isn't art; it is crap.

[fail finder]

His tags should have been "Darwin".

[Bucket Head]

Yep. Way to go. I've seen manslaughter good for 4 years in prison and we're wasting more money by putting him in prison. Good job.

I still hear gunshots in Venice and we're busy putting a tagger away in prison. Way to go LAPD. Good job.

How's this for a suggestion? Fines and community service labor. Like, cleaning up the wall along the LA River. No? We'd rather pay people to do that. Good job.

You idiots.

[nat turner]

Just give him a {Paint gun and let him shoot it out with the LAPD .

[Don]

The boyz at Tehachapi are gonna have another name for Buket.

[call_me_cassandra]

Couldn't there be a penalty of hard labor (poss breaking rocks in the hot hot sun) for this sort of crime? Ditto for computer hackers and identity theft criminals. No languishing in jail for them -- hard labor!

[george]

WOW three years and eight months that the taxpayers will have to pay to keep this Guy of the Streets. No wonder the State is Broke and the prisons are over populated , you would think that sentencing him to clean graffiti for the 3 and a half years would had saved the State and Taxpayers quite a bit Money.
Free room and board and medical care for the next three and a half years instead of making him work and pay taxes and paint over Graffitii on his days off. what do you think would have served justice and the people of California better?

[George Soros]

It will definitely cost more to feed and care for this animal for the next years than his restitution of $117,196.00 (of which the State most likely will never see a penny of) so why don't we just execute him?
Seriously, repeat offenders like this sub-human are a disgrace to our society and don't deserve to breath the same air as the rest of us.
Shoot him in the head and post THAT video on YouTube for all wanna-be taggers to see... That should teach them a lesson!

[George]

Buket is the greatest hero in American history.

[Steve]

His sentence should have given him more years in the pen and a larger fine. I hate the word tagger, probably a name given by a gang member,vandal is more like it. There is no art about, defacing my country with all this garbage and to me it is no better than a terrorist act, that causes damages that taxpayers have to pay to clean up. The cost to remove all this garbage over the years would probably balance the CA budget.

[William R. Bauer]

Hooray for LA. Jail is exactly where the likes of this creep should go. Now, go for the others. If they know for sure that they will go to prison, this blight might just disappear.

[Marlena]

Guys got a problem - compulsive and addicted to all this attention. He needs some mental health treatment while in jail

[Big Knowz]

I understand that Johnny Law needs to make an example out of people punking them on you-tube, but 4 years and $100,000 seems a little much. Most of his pieces were in the L.A river. I guess all those tourists that want to see where the big car race scene from "Grease" was filmed are gonna be turned off because of all the graf, but not the human feces and homeless junkies having sex.

[G]

Wow, many of you morons who comment on the times are hateful as well as stupid. Why would you derive so much joy from a graffiti artist going to prison. Graffiti is part of L.A. culture. If it bothers you that much, go back where you came from. Leave Los Angeles to the Angelinos who apreciate it. We'll enjoy the extra space on the 405.

[Robert]

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

BYE BYE BUKET!!!!

[Mark Ecko]

Putting him in jail cost the taxpayers over $50,000 a year. What a waste. Make him clean up his own art. As a former tagger, nothing hurts more than destroying your work.

[Darren Spinelli]

Hard time in jail IS what he needs. Probation will just make him believe he got away with (because he *will* have gotten away with it). Why do you think so many thousands of punks do it now? Because there's no penalty in their minds, so why not do it?

[thecanimalshusband]

If he were a politician, he'd be given a life pension with full medical benefits.

[stine]

I think it ridiculous that someone should be put in prison for doing something as simply as freedom of expression through artwork. Yes it was on public property but putting him in jail is not going to teach him anything at least make him paint over his art work or give him community service hours. I think it is ridiculous that police officials were going after someone for something like tagging, when they should be going after people that are doing more devious things such as rape, murder, or drug abuse. Putting someone in jail with criminals that have a much more intensive record seems outright absurd.

[Thanks for wasting my money]

Awesome. Send the guy to jail for painting over things that don't impede anyone's means of transportation. Now I have to pay for another non-violent offender to live in prison who wasn't hurting anyone. Thanks.

[Virginia Palacios]

$60,000! How much are the people who paint over it getting paid?! Worse, how much is the person who made that estimate getting paid?

[kooo]

$60k for the amount of paint and labor required to erase the amount of tagging. oh well, just fuket.

[Bowman]

Taxpayers will now have to pay the incarceration costs for this guy. Why wasn't community service required instead? It is unlikely that this poor idiot will get rehabilitated -- he'll probably learn more criminal behavior. And, going to jail, it is unlikely that he will raise enough money to ppay the fine. Too bad.

Will other taggers curb their behavior after learning about this hefty prison sentence? I doubt it.

Is tagging really about declaring territory? My dog marks territory with urine -- I see some parallels.

[Jamal]

He definitely deserves it. However, they should punish gang related "tagging" more severely. I live in Northern California, and our cities are full of "Norte" v. "Sur" graffiti. Those people should should be dealt with severely.

[hansjohnson]

i want to be the guy getting paid $60,000 to paint over his tags along the la river. price seems a little inflated right? maybe if they sandblasted the graffiti it would cost some money, but not $60,000. they just paint over it, and when was the last time you saw them paint over anything along the LA river?

[kzkz3232]

FREE BUKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FREE BUKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DOES PAINTING A SURFACE REALLY DESERVE that much time in prison........ WHEN CHILD ABUSERS can be thrown in for one night and come out and keep doing the same thing..... focus the hunt on the ones who harm people physically and mentally... not someone who just likes to paint!

FREE BUKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Briana]

That's sad. If only police were more interested in arresting and convicting people with more egregious acts on their shoulders.

The time that was spent on convicting this person cost more of the tax payers dollars than the alleged spray paint removal costs, I'm sure. $60,000? That's a bit much for the cost of gray paint to cover the art.

[West Valley Dave]

In addition to the time and the fine he should do community service after he gets out by cleaning off all his "art"... with a toothbrush.

[Chuck Hodi]

Defintintely got his 15 min. of fame!

[Haroldt]

absolutely send him to jail...The important concept here is that it is NOT his property to "improve" as he sees fit..

[RICHARD]

Should have thrown his ass under the jail. Now let's get rid of the rest of them.

[Da Maverick]

Oh yeah this makes lots of sense. Send him to State prison, which costs taxpayers about $50k annually.

Just give him unprecedented community service. This is the reason our prisons are overcrowded, stupid people imprison people who would learn nothing from such a punishment. Ugh.

[Da Maverick]

Oh yeah this makes lots of sense. Send him to State prison, which costs taxpayers about $50k annually.

Just give him unprecedented community service. This is the reason our prisons are overcrowded, stupid people imprison people who would learn nothing from such a punishment. Ugh.

[Jack Meoph]

Does this guy have any artistic talent, or can he only spell his name in block letters? Anyways.....sending someone to prison for this type of crime is more than stupid, it's criminal. You know who he is, you know where he lives, you have him, make him work cleaning up the mess he created, and pay what he owes. Prison will turn him from an idiot, into a criminal. Way to go LA DA, you have the mouth breathers swooning over this bit of "justice".

[Lilly]

4 years is not enoguh for this idiot. They should flog this idiot 40 times and he will never do graffitti again.

[Eliseo Saldivar]

He better come up with a better story when asked what's he in for. If he answers "tagging" he just might have a hard time in there.

[YESH!]

Hey Cyrus, here's a couple words of advice that will help you where you are going: Don't drop the soap in the shower!

So long, sonny. Too bad you wasted your one-and-only life this way. Wish you would have put your energy into something positive. OH WELL!

[butofcourse]

He should be permanently banished from LA county, serious. Can that still be done?

[Shamu]

and let's hope and pray the scumbag does the time...

[Anonymous]

Sweet... now on top of paying for the cleanup, tax payers have to foot the bill to house and feed him for four years? They'll never get all of that fine collected, noe you likely just made an "off the books worker" that can't have money taken out of a paycheck -another looss of potential thousands of dollars. Give the guy community service and force him to work for the state cleanup up crew - with normal wage minus a few dollars- for 4 years as a sentence.

[David in Los Angeles]

Apparently it costs $60K to clean off the graffiti because of the polution problems that comes with just sandblasting it off, and the stuff gets in the L.A. River. It's a little ironic because so much trash and crap gets in the river anyway.

On one hand, I'm glad he'll be serving time. But how much is it going to cost to have him spend four years in prison? What does that accomplish? I'd rather have him on some sort of house arrest for the next ten years, "serving time" cleaning off graffiti all over Los Angeles.

[JWS]

This punk should have gotten 40 years.

[Dazed]

Wow the police are lame man four years in prison?.. that place kills your spirit... thats a brutal sentence just for street art!... makes me happy that gangs are taking over police in mexico... they should start doing that here in the U.S....

[wideeyed]

tsloopy

obviously with a "moniker" like that your just as guilty as he is. Hope your next punk. Improved the LA River? Not. You scum have no brains, no taste, no art, no awareness except your own acted out anger. Grow up and become useful instead of destructive.

[smith]

$60,000 what a complete joke.
KURO, you're the idiot who should be locked up, you're clearly mentally ill.
keeping him in an already overcrowded jail, for this petty minor offence, is just gonna cost your already near bankrupt cali state more money.

[Duh]

While I am glad he is going to jail (his crime isn't violent, but it does degrade the quality of a civilized community - if you think otherwise, you are not civilized), I agree with others that a much better punishment is to fine him for the cost of other cleaning his mess, and THEN have him spend the next 4 years cleaning up after the countless other dummies who vandalize community property (even if it is art, it's vandalism - if you want to produce art, there are many other ways to do it that are legal and don't degrade communities - I like drag racing, but I don't drag race on a public road - I go to the race track ....get the idea?).

If he were given such a sentence, how ironic it would be if, after a year or so, he was going back to the same spots, over and over again, and spending an 8-hour day cleaning up after some other dummy. Eventually, he would say to himself, "God DAMN, I wish these idiots would stop painting graffiti."

Ahhhh, perchance to dream.

[Duh]

BTW, exactly how devoid self-esteem and sense of worth must one be to be reduced to having to spray paint your "nickname" in public property so that you can be somebody?

Yikes.

[Writer Around The World]

All of you who think putting a writer in jail is the answer to everything are retarded. You are no better than the writer himself. People should only go to jail if they murder rape or steal. I am sorry LA But you have this whole graffiti thing the wrong way. For example, instead of putting money towards new books for education you go and spend half a million dollars on a company to repaint the LA River. Why? When all of you out there know it's only a waste of money and it will eventually lead to more painting. The war on graffiti is stupid. Trying to mask our cities with white paint from the truth of our own citizens just trying to express their own forms. It really is a beautiful thing. Ugly or not it takes you away from the everyday dull look of bland concrete. Color; its all it really is. Why the cover up? Are you really threatened by its presence? Graffiti is a global phenomenon. It will be victorious. It will always stand. It will always paint over your boring repainted white walls. Putting writers in a jail cell isn't going to fix your problems. It's only going to make it worse.

Nuff Said.

[xxxmhmxxx]

lets go bombing lol