El Dorado High School Resource Officer James Smith said arrests have been made regarding the recent graffiti tagging incident on Jan. 25.

“We identified four young men involved in the situation,” Smith said. “Three of them are current students and one is a former student.”

Of the four, two have admitted to the crime and are facing school punishment.

Administrators discovered a spray-painted combination of writing and artwork or symbols on an uncompleted area of the building and on one of the work trailers belonging to Simpson and Associates, the construction crew working on the building.

At the Monday meeting of the USD 490 Board of Education, EHS Vice Principal Kevin House told the board that information had been turned over to the Butler County Attorney.

“It’s in their hands as of now,” House said. “Officer Smith has asked [the county attorney] to make an example of these young juveniles so that we don’t have things like this happen again.”

“We’d just like to see it be handled,” Smith said. “We’re getting ready to move into an approximately $20 million complex at the high school and we don’t want things like this happening.”

Information that lead to the culprits came through the EHS Scholastic Crime Stoppers, which is an in-house crime reporting system where Smith will ask for information about school-related incidents by making announcements and asking for assistance via the intercom and posters on campus.

Smith said the first tip came from a student who told a teacher who in turn relayed the information. Two other tips led to the total of four perpetrators, one of whom is a student in another district now.

Smith said video footage of the construction site helped investigators pin down the timeframe in which the tagging occurred. He also said the total damage between materials and labor cost about $245.

Though some of the markings that were spray-painted “could be construed” as having gang ties, Smith said that when the students were interviewed by Bret McClendon and Kevin House, there was nothing to suggest as much.

“We have no evidence showing it was gang-related,” Smith said. “They didn’t give any indication that they were involved with a gang. [We believe] it was just a random act.”

Smith is pleased that the Crime Stoppers yielded results in finding those responsible for the graffiti.

“I feel as if the students are already taking pride in the new building,” Smith said.