Police investigate graffiti spree in financial district

By Matt Rocheleau, Globe Correspondent

Boston police say they are investigating a spree of graffiti vandalism reported over the weekend in the financial district, near the area where protesters have camped out in downtown Boston.

Between Friday and yesterday, police received reports of vandalism at 22 addresses where a mix of black, blue and silver-colored paint was sprayed on buildings, doorways, signs and vehicles including on or outside of bank and financial company locations.

“The incidents seem to be related,” Boston police spokesman Officer Eddy Chrispin said.

When asked if police believe that members of the Occupy Boston protest were responsible for the graffiti, he said: “Obviously, I think that’s the easy presumption to make, but we’re seeing where our investigation leads us.”

He said many of the reported markings were the letter ‘A’ with a circle drawn around it, which is commonly used as a symbol for anarchy. Some vandalized spots were sprayed with messages including: “Burn the Money,” “End the Fed,” “Tax the Rich,” officials said.

“Occupy,” “Bad for America” and “Your building is crowding our skyline” were painted at 100 Federal St., a skyscraper that houses Bank of America corporate offices, according to police.

Other vandalized buildings included a Citizens Bank branch, Sovereign Bank branch, a building that houses offices for American Express and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, and a Starbucks location, which had an obscenity sprayed on its front doors, police said.

He said police will try to review possible security camera footage of the vandalism as part of the department’s active investigation.

Police had not identified any potential suspects as of last night, the officer said. As far as he was aware, Chrispin said today, no further reports of vandalism in that area had been made.

The Occupy Boston movement has caused relatively few reported problems for police since it began three weeks ago.

But, the Globe reported that on Friday, a politically motivated computer hacker group, claiming it was working in support of the Occupy protest movement, attacked and brought down dozens of police websites around the country and said it posted e-mail information about nearly 1,000 Boston police officers.

And, yesterday afternoon undercover police arrested two people, who were among those camped out in an Occupy Boston “tent city,” on drug charges, Chrispin said.

Charlene Dumont, 31, a Boston resident with no address, and Isaac Brown, 34, of Roxbury were charged for possessing and selling heroin within 1,000 feet of a school zone.

A 6-year-old child found inside a tent, which police later confiscated, was picked up by a relative of Dumont, Chrispin said. He added that the state’s children and families department has been notified in order to investigate whether the child’s relatives are fit caretakers.

Two weeks ago, 149 protesters were arrested by Boston police on trespassing charges when the group’s campground expanded to, and refused to leave from, a newly renovated section of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway that authorities had specifically asked the activists to avoid.

Several days later, the city announced it had spent $146,189.55 on 3,056 hours of Boston police overtime amassed between Oct. 1 and Oct. 14.