WILLMAR -- Albert Martin Navarro, 16, of Willmar, pleaded guilty Wednesday to three felony charges of third-degree burglary and first-degree damage to property for an Oct. 18 graffiti spate and a Nov. 6 incident that involved breaking into garages, doing graffiti and stealing beer.
As part of a plea agreement reached in Kandiyohi County District Court, a total of six other charges, including one felony, filed in the two cases will be dismissed. Navarro will be responsible for restitution of $2,247.30, with his co-defendants, in both cases. His dispositional hearing is March 30.
Felony charges against 16- and 17-year-olds are public information.
Navarro is the second person charged in connection to the graffiti incident. Scott Riley Olson, 18, of Willmar, was sentenced Jan. 14 and was ordered committed to the Prairie Lakes Detention Center secure transition program, probation until his 21st birthday, $8,204 in restitution and 40 hours of community service for Oct. 18 graffiti incident and for a Oct. 29 graffiti rampage in downtown Willmar.
According to the Oct. 18 petition against Navarro, Willmar police received numerous reports of graffiti on garages, buildings, vehicles and apartment buildings starting on Oct. 19. The reports of graffiti were from the northeast side, along with homes, a church and businesses scattered at other locations in the city. One of the reports included that someone had entered a garage and dumped gallons of paint on a vehicle, causing $670 in damage.
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The same day, officers located Olson and Navarro and questioned them about the graffiti. Navarro had paint, in the same colors as the graffiti, on his hands. He claimed to not know how it got on his hands. He said he was with Olson the night before, but retracted his statement later. Navarro later informed the high school resource officer that he was involved in the graffiti and assisted with identifying the damage. He also said the pair had entered three garages, stole items and drank rum straight from the bottle while spraying the damage.
The officer also interviewed Olson, who said he was too drunk and too high to remember all the locations that were damaged. He admitted that whatever Navarro told the officer was true. The officer later obtained writings at the high school that were known to be created by Olson. Many matched the graffiti found by police on Oct. 19.
According to the other petition, Willmar police were called around 6 a.m. Nov. 7 to a home along Highland Road on a report that tires on two vehicles had been slashed and that beer had been stolen from a refrigerator in a garage. A man reported that an 18-pack of 16-oz. Coors Light had been taken, and that someone had also stolen his beer about a month earlier. An hour later, police were called to a nearby home, where a man reported someone had broken into his garage through a window and written gang graffiti on a sign.
A Gang Enforcement Team officer examined the graffiti and recognized it as similar to previous graffiti cases involving Navarro and Olson.
