SALEM ¬— For years, the name "Spek" could be found all over eastern Massachusetts, on trains, on walls, on doors.
Frustrated police searched fruitlessly for the culprit for nearly a decade. And when they did catch up with that culprit, Adam Brandt, they were still more frustrated, after judges handed him what a prosecutor yesterday called "a slap on the wrist."
"Spek" and the letters "ITD," which stands for "Illustrate Total Destruction," continued to show up over and over, causing thousands of dollars' worth of damage and cleanup costs.
Yesterday, a Salem District Court judge sent Brandt, 28, who pleaded guilty, to jail for four months, with a warning that he'll serve four years if he violates the terms of his five-year probation after his release.
"Effective today, Spek is out of business," said Judge Robert Cornetta during Brandt's sentencing hearing.
After his release from jail, Brandt, a Reading resident, will be responsible for some $37,000 in restitution. He'll have to spend two months wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. And he's barred from buying paint, markers or anything else he could use to vandalize property, something police say he's been doing since the late 1990s.
Prosecutor Lisa Core said Salem police Patrolman Dennis King, who is part of the Community Impact Unit, was "instrumental" in breaking open the case against Brandt, who by day was driving a truck for Moynihan Lumber.
A string of local businesses had been hit with the Spek moniker, including Colonial Tours, a bus company on Canal Street, which had just purchased and painted a tour bus that was hit.
That business was forced to cancel several charter bus trips, frustrating customers, while it had the buses cleaned.
Brandt is also charged with painting tags on other businesses, including North Shore Recycling on Jefferson Avenue, a Massachusetts Electric property and a printing business on Dodge Street, on MBTA property, and on buildings on Dow, Harbor, Lafayette, Bridge, Ward, Essex and Washington streets.
Core said the vandalism was a "blight" on the city and a concern of residents and business owners.
King and Sgt. Harry Rocheville began trying to track down the vandal, and their investigation led them to connect with Boston police Detective Bill Kelly and MBTA police Lt. Nancy O'Loughlin. The officers worked together to confirm Brandt's identity. At the time, he was staying in an apartment in Salem.
King got a warrant and searched the apartment and Brandt's car, turning up notebooks filled with drawings; receipts for paint; spray paint cans and paint markers; paint-stained clothing; and a camera memory card filled with pictures of his handiwork.
At the time, Brandt was on pretrial probation in another vandalism case.
Police charged Brandt with 16 counts each of vandalism and tagging. The first charge, vandalism, is a felony, something a lot of "taggers" do not realize, King said.
Core urged Cornetta to put Brandt in jail for a year, saying, "I'd like Mr. Brandt to understand he may see himself as an artist, but in the commonwealth's eyes and the citizens' eyes, he's a criminal," Core said. "He's a vandal."
William Keefe, who is representing Brandt in all of his cases, said he can't offer an explanation for Brandt's behavior. But, said the defense lawyer, Brandt has learned his lesson, calling him "very, very unlikely to re-offend."
The judge, who also imposed a $1,000 fine along with the jail term, said he was troubled by Brandt's "antisocial behavior."
The law also calls for a suspension of Brandt's driver's license. The judge indicated that he would not make that a condition of the sentence, however, given that Brandt makes his living as a delivery driver.
King said he hopes the jail sentence will convince others that, "It's a big deal."
"To me, it's a great example to anyone thinking about getting involved in the graffiti culture," King said. "That's the end result."
Brandt is due in two more courts this month in connection with the vandalism spree, his lawyer said. He'll be in Haverhill on Thursday to try to resolve charges brought by the MBTA and then in Boston Municipal Court next week. Keefe said he hopes that the judges in those courts impose concurrent sentences, so that Brandt won't have to serve additional jail time.
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