Wanted Portland graffiti vandal allegedly behind 'GIMER' tag arrested

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- The man believed to be the prolific Portland area tagger featured in a YouTube docuseries was arrested Thursday morning, Portland police announced.

According to PPB, 40-year-old James Fischel is responsible for Graffiti Is Me Escaping Reality, or "GIMER," tags across the city.

Fischell was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on numerous charges of first and second-degree criminal mischief.

The investigation into Fischel originally began in mid-May 2024 when two officers were alerted to an episode of the CHAOSTOWN YouTube docuseries titled “Portland is losing the graffiti war” which features Fischel, who “went to great lengths to conceal his identity,” PPB said.

The officers were able to identify Fischel and the home where he stashed his spray paint supply, or as he called it in the docuseries, “every graffiti writer’s fantasy,” authorities said.

Police then served a search warrant on the alleged graffiti vandal’s Portland home on June 25, finding 1,500 cans of spray paint and other vandalism materials, worth more than $10,000.

“This was the motherlode of graffiti evidence that we’ve ever found,” PPB Officer Nathan Kirby-Glatkowski told KOIN 6 News.

This was by far the biggest graffiti bust ever done by PPB officers, who reported filling up passenger vans with graffiti supplies and evidence.