The Tempe police has arrested a 38-year-old graffiti artist believed to be the infamous 'Penis Man' who shot into national limelight by spraying 'Penis Man' on the pubic properties across Tempe and Arizona State University. The man identified as Dustin Shomer was caught by the SWAT team from his home in Phoenix, last weekend.
Apart from spraying the vulgar message on the buildings, the 'Penis Man' also vandalized the traffic poles, abandoned buildings and traffic light poles, with the message. The Tempe police has booked Shomer on several counts including aggravated criminal damage and criminal trespassing in the first degree.
Is he the original 'Penis Man' or a copycat?
According to the Phoenix New Times, Shomer said that he was not the real 'Penis Man', but a mere copycat. "I'm not the original. There are hundreds of copycats with very distinctively different handwriting," he said.
On how he ended up being a copycat, Shomer said that he was inspired by the legendary 'Penis Man' after he heard some people talking about him at a bar in Tempe. "I thought it was a good message," he said.
"Penis Man is neither man nor woman, you nor me. We are ALL Penis Man," Shomer had written on his Facebook page. As reported by the publication, in the court records the police have mentioned few places where Shomer was believed to have written 'Penis Man' from January 19 and 21.
The places include local restaurants in Tempe, Tempe City Hall, 'A' Mountain, fenced public water towers, and 15 separate locations on ASU Tempe Campus and one ASU Phoenix campus. Shomer was released from jail after being placed with ankle monitoring equipment.
Shomer has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for legal fees
Shomer took to Facebook to describe the events that led to his arrest. "They raided my condo and vehicle and swarmed my entire complex in west Phoenix with 25 heavily armed SWAT officers, and pointed a silenced assault rifle in my face," he wrote.
The arrest came after the Police found his fingerprints from one place and video surveillance from the other spots where Shomer had painted the vulgar words.
Soon after his arrest, Shomer, a broke artist, created a GoFundMe page asking his fans to fund the legal fees. He wrote: "I'm broke and have lost my job. I need help with legal fees to defend myself against Tempe PD. I've got bad PTSD and had an AR-15 in my face 2 days ago. That sh– was real scary." So far, Shomer has managed to raise $2620 of his $10,000 goal on the account.
