By Jim Mimiaga

A confessed graffiti vandal with a vicious personal vendetta was caught red-handed Saturday night in Towaoc by a vigilante group cleaning up behind him, the Ute Mountain Ute police reported yesterday.

Henry Wing, 37, a Ute Mountain Tribal member has been charged with malicious criminal mischief and intoxication for allegedly spray painting six highly visibly public buildings in Towaoc with derogatory and sexually explicit messages about other citizens of the community, according to Ute Mountain Police Chief Dusty Whiting.

Structures defaced with blue, red and yellow paint over the weekend were the Tribal Education Center, the Bureau of Indian Affairs facilities office, the tribal gaming commission office, the tribal Division of Wildlife office, two unoccupied mobile homes and a large steel tank in a storage yard at Weminuche Construction Co., according to a police press release.

After reporting the vandalism to investigators Saturday afternoon, friends and relatives of those targeted in the inflammatory remarks quickly organized and began painting over the damage, while police beefed up patrols throughout town.

During their effort to paint over the offensive graffiti, five community members twice noticed a suspicious truck nearby, Whiting explained.

The second time the vehicle was spotted the group fanned out, the chief said, and promptly apprehended Wing near the Weminuche Construction yard as he returned to his vehicle carrying cans of yellow and blue spray paint. Police were contacted and Wing was arrested.

"He was leaving from a steel storage tank which was still dripping with fresh blue paint," said Whiting. "In all we determined that about 2,300 square feet of walls had been damaged during the incident."