Viral YouTube documentary leads cops to raid vandal’s graffiti stash

Police have raided the stash of an alleged Portland “veteran vandal” after a YouTube documentary featuring him went viral.

In May 2024, YouTube channel ‘CHAOSTOWN‘ posted a 36-minute documentary exploring Portland’s “graffiti war” by speaking to both sides in an attempt to understand the root of the issue.

This included meeting a “veteran vandal” whose identity was kept hidden as he showed the channel’s host, Jameson, his “secret stash spot” containing more than $20,000 worth of spray paint.

Now, Portland police have allegedly identified the “vandal” in question as 40-year-old James S. Fischel, raiding and confiscating the abundance of supplies he had stashed.

In the documentary, titled ‘Portland is losing the ‘graffiti war’, a disguised Fischel revealed he was known within the grafting community as GIMER – an acronym for Graffiti Is Me Escaping Reality.

He described his tags as “vandalism with an artistic spin”, and showed off his color-coordinated stash to Jameson as “every graffiti writer’s fantasy.”

The Oregonian first reported that police obtained a search warrant at a home in the 1800 block of Southeast 174th Avenue in the Centennial Neighborhood, where they discovered more than 1,500 cans of spray paint.

While Fischel himself has not been arrested, The Oregonian claimed officials were “aware of his location” and were “pursuing criminal charges.”

Following news of the raid, CHAOSTOWN pinned a comment to the top of the video in which they denied giving up Fischel’s identity to law enforcement.

“CHAOSTOWN has not been questioned by law enforcement. We may look a little different than the news reporters you’re used to, but we hold ourselves to journalistic standards,” the channel wrote. “We do not reveal sources, to anyone.”

Not all were convinced, however, with one person questioning the timing of Fischel’s appearance in the documentary before being raided: “I call bull. One of the taggers you interviewed got arrested because of your video. Good luck getting any interviews in the future now.”

Another viewer was left feeling more uncertain, requesting the channel offer a “more detailed update.” Others came to the channel’s defense, pointing out that Fischel had not covered his tattoos or eyes in the video.

“Chances are GIMER is well known with the police and they ID’d him in this video, did surveillance on his house, then raided once they had cause. It’ll come out eventually.”