A Federal Way man with various previous active graffiti cases against him was charged with second-degree malicious mischief for allegedly defacing a marijuana advertisement billboard after a rival business paid him $1,000 to do so.

On April 8, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Cameron Scott O’Neill, 28, whose last known address was in Federal Way, with second-degree malicious mischief for allegedly causing over $2,500 worth of damage to a Seattle billboard on Sept. 24, 2024. Charging documents allege that a rival business paid him $1,000 to deface the billboard at 12848 Martin Luther King Jr. Way South.

According to KCPAO spokesperson Casey McNerthney, O’Neill is also currently charged with four Seattle graffiti charges, with three causing over $2,000 of damage and one causing over $800 in damage. He has pleaded not guilty to those four charges and will be arraigned for the charge stemming from the defacement on April 21.

Suspect’s active graffiti cases

According to McNerthney, these are the active graffiti cases against O’Neill.

• First-degree malicious mischief for graffiti on a wall near Leary Way in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. Because the damage was estimated at $5,996, prosecutors were able to file first-degree malicious mischief, which by law is over $5,000.

• Second-degree malicious mischief involving graffiti on a State Department of Transportation retaining wall next to the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. The total damage estimated by WSDOT for actions from multiple co-defendants is $2,761.45.

• Second-degree malicious mischief involving graffiti near 4th Avenue and Yesler Way in Seattle. The damage caused by the graffiti from multiple defendants was estimated to be $895.38.

• Second-degree malicious mischief involving graffiti on an Interstate 5 wall in Seattle. A breakdown of the damages from the WSDOT revealed the cost for the actions of multiple co-defendants to be $2,234.95.

“If someone is convicted of vandalizing property and causing hundreds or thousands of dollars in damage, they should be held responsible for the costs of the harm they caused,” King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said.

Documents state that after the billboard was defaced, the owner told law enforcement that he wanted to pursue charges. An officer investigating the case checked the phones of one of the defendants from a prior Seattle graffiti case and found a group chat in which O’Neill allegedly admitted to defacing the building. Documents show a screenshot of the group chat where O’Neill reportedly sent a photo of the billboard before the defacement, and then again later with it defaced, holding $900 in cash and a box knife.

“Bro this dude who owns have a heart and an art gallery in Seattle who knows charms just paid me a band to rip this rival weed store add down lmfao,” O’Neill allegedly texted to the group chat, according to charging documents. Documents state that the slang term “band” refers to $1,000.

Documents state that O’Neill told the group chat that it was the easiest money he had ever made and that his mother had driven him to deface the billboard. Documents state that people in the group chat were reacting positively to him getting paid to do the graffiti, and another in the group chat said that it was normal operating procedure for taggers to cut down billboard signage to make room for their graffiti.