Shepard Fairey in front of a mural he created for the alley behind Z garage. A warrant seeking to charge Fairey with malicious destruction of property over $1,000 and less than $20,000 has been drawn up, a Detroit Police official said Wednesday. (Photo: Brandy Baker / Detroit News) 
 
 Detroit — Local authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a well-known California graffiti artist whose work has recently been installed at one of the city’s downtown landmarks. 
 
 A warrant seeking to charge Shepard Fairey with malicious destruction of property over $1,000 and less than $20,000 has been drawn up, a Detroit police official said Wednesday. 
 
 Sgt. Rebecca McKay of the police department’s general assignment unit, which handles quality of life issues, said a notice will be mailed out to Fairey and his attorney, when it is determined who it is, regarding the case. 
 
 McKay said there are 14 different locations in the city where 45-year-old Fairey, who is based in Los Angeles, posted his stickers. 
 
 “We have eight complainants who wanted to prosecute,” McKay said Wednesday. “They did not give permission to have graffiti put on their property.” 
 
 McKay said two of the 14 properties are city owned. One is a wall on Woodward; the other is an underpass at East Grand Boulevard at Interstate 75. 
 
 “That is more difficult to remove,” McKay said. 
 
 Fairey was recently commissioned to paint a 184-foot-tall mural on the east side of the Compuware building, owned by Detroit developer Dan Gilbert, on Woodward near Campus Martius as well as a large billboard on East Grand River, a water tower bearing the artist’s trademark “Obey” logo and several other temporary murals. 
 
 If convicted, punishment for the offense carries up to five years in prison and a fine three times the monetary damage of the crime. 
 
 So far this year, McKay said, her unit has arrested 13 people — one man twice — in connection with graffiti complaints. There are two cases, she said, where warrants have been issued including one against Fairey. In both those cases, the individuals have not been arrested. 
 
 “We’re extremely serious about this,” McKay said. “Anytime anyone is caught we aggressively pursue charges. Eighty percent of the people we catch they own up to it — they’re proud of it.” 
 
 The city attorney is handling the cases in court instead of the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. 
 
 In response to critics who say police should focus on more serious crimes, McKay said: “If we ignore graffiti it sends the message to people we don’t care, and it projects the image that an area covered in graffiti is not safe.” 
 
 Fairey’s case is the most recent high-profile case involving taggers. Three Grosse Pointe Woods teens were arrested and charged last year after Gilbert appealed to the public to help identify individuals responsible for defacing some downtown buildings. The girls entered a plea deal to serve 60 hours of community service, including removing graffiti from buildings, and $2,000 in restitution. 
 
 Earlier this year, two 19-year-olds — Marcelus Gray of Lathrup Village and Taylor Daramy of Southfield — were charged with vandalism after allegedly painting an image in February on a youth center building depicting an angel pointing a gun at a police officer. 
 
 The city of Detroit is cracking down on graffiti although its efforts have hit some snags, including city inspectors accidentally issuing tickets to businesses that had legally commissioned artists to paint murals on their buildings. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s spokesman, John Roach, said those tickets were rescinded. 
 
 Duggan has long had a get-tough policy for graffiti. In 2003, while Wayne County prosecutor, he charged two out-of-towners with malicious destruction of property, and forced the two men, from Wisconsin and California, to give the identities of other graffiti artists using investigative subpoenas. 
 
 Both men pleaded guilty and spent 60 days in the Wayne County Jail. 
 
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 Artist Shepard Fairey works on a mural in The Belt alley in Detroit on Saturday, May 16, 2015. (Photo: Rob WIddis/Special to the Free Press) 
 
 Famed street artist Shepard Fairey, who visited Detroit last month to create the largest mural of his career, faces felony charges of tagging other properties across the city on his own time. 
 
 A warrant for his arrest was filed in 36th District Court on Friday. He faces two counts of malicious destruction of property, which carry a maximum penalty of five years in jail, plus fines that could exceed $10,000. 
 
 Related: Street artist Shepard Fairey to paint huge downtown mural 
 
 Police, who accuse the artist of causing about $9,000 in damage, said that the next time he comes to Detroit, they will arrest him if he doesn't turn himself in first. 
 
 "Just because he is a well-known artist does not take away the fact that he is also a vandal," said Detroit Police Sgt. Rebecca McKay, who oversees the city's graffiti task force. "And that's what we consider was done, in these instances, was vandalism." 
 
 Related: Did street artist Shepard Fairey tag Detroit? 
 
 Fairey told the Free Press he intended to leave illegal marks in the city. He arrived in May to paint the 18-story mural on One Campus Martius for Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services and others, but before the work began, he said he would be doing more. 
 
 "I still do stuff on the street without permission. I'll be doing stuff on the street when I'm in Detroit," Fairey said last month. His signature black-and-white Andre the Giant face has since appeared on several buildings downtown, in Eastern Market and along Jefferson Avenue. 
 
 Fairey's legal troubles in Detroit open a window into the evolution of street art, from its illegal origins into its more professionalized genre recognized in museums and galleries. Fairey has always liked to play both sides of the street, accepting major commissions like the One Campus Martius mural but also retaining his street credibility by continuing to work in the shadows, tagging private property without authorization. 
 
 An exhibition of Fairey's prints is also currently on view at the Library Street Collective in downtown Detroit. 
 
 "This is a whole genre that's become institutionalized, and you'll always have some outliers go back to where they started and where they get their inspiration," said Elysia Borowy-Reeder, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. 
 
 On another front, the crackdown on illegal graffiti suggests that the reputation Detroit has had for years among artists elsewhere as a kind of Wild Wild West of opportunity needs amending. While inexpensive studio space, a supportive artists' community and the chance to help shape the future of the city remain powerful incentives to live and work in Detroit, the notion that anything goes, including illegal activities that have made the city a haven for unauthorized street art, is no longer true. 
 
 "That reputation lingers but change happens slowly and it's catching up," said Borowy-Reeder. "The city is becoming more mature." 
 
 A spokeswoman with Bedrock Real Estate Services, Robin Schwartz, declined to comment on the arrest warrant Wednesday. Bedrock Executive Vice President Dan Mullen has previously told the Free Press, "I definitely do not promote any unsanctioned work." Representatives of the Library Street Collective did not return a call seeking comment. 
 
 Related: Shepard Fairey finishes huge mural at One Campus Martius 
 
 Police say that between May 16 and 22, Fairey pasted nine posters with his own iconic symbols like Andre the Giant and other images. The various posters are roughly square in size, and measured four or so feet in height and width. 
 
 The total amount of damages that police say he has caused: $9,105.54. 
 
 Police also suspect that Fairey tagged several more properties -- up to 14 in total -- but only nine of the locations had owners who were reachable and interested in pressing charges, McKay said. 
 
 Fairey is still best-known for creating the now-iconic "Hope" poster of Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. 
 
 He is no stranger to legal troubles--he has been arrested more than 15 times for defacing public property, and was also sentenced in federal court to two years of probation and fined $25,000 in 2012 for tampering with evidence in a case growing out of a copyright battle with the Associated Press over the Obama "Hope" image. 
 
 He is based in Los Angeles, and last came to Detroit in the early 2000s, when he tagged public and private spaces without permission. He has said it was considered a coup to get to make work that at times might be at odds with other aspects of a company's profile. 
 
 A spokesperson for Fairey said by email that the artist is "currently traveling out of the country," and that a representative would get in touch at a later date. 
 
 Robert Allen and Katrease Stafford contributed reporting. 
 
 Contact Daniel Bethencourt: dbethencourt@freepress.com or 313-223-4531. Follow on Twitter at @_dbethencourt. 
 
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– Street artist Shepard Fairey was recently commissioned to paint an enormous mural on the side of a downtown Detroit building, and cops in the city want to talk to him about a few side projects. Police say Fairey posted unauthorized stickers in at least 14 locations when he was in town to paint the 184-foot-tall Compuware Building mural last month, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest, reports the Detroit News. Fairey, who is best known for designing the Obama "HOPE" poster, allegedly caused more than $9,000 in damage, and police say that if he ever comes back to Detroit, he'll be arrested if he doesn't turn himself in first. "Just because he is a well-known artist does not take away the fact that he is also a vandal," Sgt. Rebecca McKay, chief of the city's graffiti task force, tells the Detroit Free Press. "And that's what we consider was done, in these instances, was vandalism." McKay tells the News that the city is "extremely serious" about dealing with graffiti because if it is ignored, it "sends the message to people we don't care, and it projects the image that an area covered in graffiti is not safe." (When Fairey visited Copenhagen a few years ago, he was roughed up and his mural was defaced with the words "Yankee hipster go home.")