Venice Police Department Detective Division arrested Louis C. Adam (Date of Birth: 10-28-94) and Christopher M. Shepherd (DoB: 5-25-93) in connection with a March 16 criminal mischief case that affected numerous businesses and two churches in the downtown Venice area. The men were charged with four counts of criminal mischief over $200, two counts of criminal mischief to a church, criminal mischief $1,000 or more, and wearing a mask or hood during the commission of a crime.
The investigation began after numerous reports of spray-painted anti-religious graffiti on the buildings of the businesses and churches.
Witnesses reported the suspects used masks and long clothing to conceal their identities as they fled the area, so initially patrol officers had very little to go on.
Detectives received a break in the case when they were working a missing person’s investigation and noticed similar graffiti spray painted on the fence of a house they were checking. Adam and Shepherd were identified as the suspects through interviews of some associates of the two men. When detectives caught up with Adam and Shepherd they obtained confessions and gathered additional evidence linking them to the crimes. The men, along with more accomplices, face additional charges stemming from similar incidents throughout Sarasota County and in the city of Sarasota.