TAGGERS BLAMED IN SPREE; CHP ARRESTS TEENS SUSPECTED OF CAUSING $10,000 IN DAMAGE.

Byline: Steve Carney Daily News Staff Writer

Two Sherman Oaks teen-agers were arrested Wednesday as suspects in a $10,000 vandalism spree across the San Fernando Valley after California Highway Patrol officers caught them spray-painting a freeway wall, authorities said.

California Highway Patrol spokesman Dwight McDonald said the two 17-year-old boys were painting a wall near the Sepulveda Boulevard exit of the San Diego Freeway in Sherman Oaks when officers pulled up on them.

``As soon as they opened the door, the kids took off. The officers ran them down and caught them,'' he said.

The teen-agers' names were not released because they are minors.

The boys' parents agreed to let their homes be searched, McDonald said, and officers found spray-paint cans, felt-tip markers, backpacks and practice sketches of graffiti designs.

McDonald said police have seen the same markings for about a year throughout the San Fernando Valley on walls, buildings, signs and other surfaces.

``They were doing a lot of things,'' McDonald said. ``We had seen the sign before and wondered (whose) it was. Now we know.''

The two are suspected of causing about $10,000 in damage over the months, ``and that's probably low-balling it,'' he said.

``It doesn't take much to create a lot of damage,'' he added, citing costs for crews to repaint or clean defaced surfaces, as well as the cost of the equipment and materials the crews use.

The teen-agers were arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism and released to their parents, McDonald said. ``They were less than thrilled, and didn't know their kids were out,'' he said.

Officials in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office will determine how the youths are charged.

Caltrans spokesman Presley Burroughs said graffiti is less a problem than it once was, partly because of razor wire on signs and beefed-up police patrols. But walls, such as the one the two boys are accused of spraying, are hard to protect, he said. The California Department of Transportation is researching new types of building materials or paints that could be graffiti-resistant.

Burroughs said graffiti can be erased relatively quickly, especially on stretches that have been adopted by civic groups willing to do the work, but it may take time for a Caltrans cleanup crew to get started on a particular spot.

``Our forces are stretched really thin, so we have to prioritize,'' he said.

Caltrans bills the parents of juveniles for graffiti removal at a minimum of $1,000 per incident, agency officials said. The cost of removing graffiti from an overhead freeway sign is about $2,000, they said.