CALGARY — A teenager who had previously been charged committing graffiti has again been busted by police and faces charges in 45 more cases.

The teen, who can’t be named because he was under 18 for some of the most recent taggings, faces over 100 charges for a graffiti spree between July, 2011 and January of this year.

He is now 18 years old.

“He has a history of graffiti vandalism from the past and obviously it’s just a reoccurring issue with him,” said Const. Dave Ladic of the joint graffiti investigation team.

He faces 46 charges of mischief under $5,000 for allegedly vandalizing signs, bridges, lamp posts, newspaper boxes and other items around the city. He also faces 48 counts of breach of recognizance.

The teen has also been charged with mischief over $5,000 for graffiti on a warehouse that was estimated to have suffered $10,000 to $15,000 in damage.

“They did a fairly substantial job on that,” said Ladic.

That case may have involved more than one person.

“Based on the number of different tags that were there would indicate that there were a number of different people there. One person typically doesn’t have more than one tag.”

The case is the first arrest by the newly created joint graffiti investigation team, which brings together investigators from police, bylaw and transit. Instead of looking into cases separately, the team brings all investigators into the same unit.

“This would be the first one as a team that we’ve done,” said Ladic.

“We were all able to collaborate in the office.”

The teen has also been charged with six counts of breach of probation order and one count of possession of marijuana.

smassinon@calgaryherald.com