AGOURA HILLS : 2 Teen-Agers Admit Tagging High School

Two teen-age boys have confessed to a graffiti spree at Agoura High School that lasted several months and caused about $10,000 damage, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported Thursday.

“We received two names from the school district as possible suspects,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Rorhbach. “We interviewed them and they confessed.”

The two boys, aged 14 and 15, are students at Agoura and Indian Hills high schools, said Don Zimring, assistant superintendent of business for the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

The two spray-painted their monikers on walls and carved them into windows, Zimring said. They first struck in the spring of last year and continued into the summer.

The taggers at one point were hitting the high school several times a week, Zimring said. Officials set up surveillance, hired private guards and had extra sheriff’s patrols sent to the area, all to no avail, said Zimring.

After the district decided to offer a reward, information that led to the youths’ arrest was given to Agoura High School’s plant manager, Jim Burford.

The district will press charges against the teen-agers because of the extent of the damage, said Zimring. They also face disciplinary action at the district level, which can range from suspension to expulsion.

The school board will decide the two youths’ punishment during closed session, probably at its Nov. 8 meeting, Zimring said.

In a prior, unrelated graffiti incident, a 13-year-old confessed to tagging after being caught in the act during the summer at Lindero Canyon Middle School, said Zimring. His parents paid restitution.

Zimring said the school disciplined the youth, but he declined to elaborate.

The school also had a minor graffiti incident on one wall at Agoura High School last week that is under investigation, Zimring said.