Arizona Police Arrest Man Suspected of ‘Penis Man’ Graffiti Tags

A man was arrested Thursday for allegedly spray-painting the words “Penis Man” multiple times and on several surfaces around Tempe, Arizona.

Tempe Police Department detectives arrested 38-year-old Dustin Shomer on suspicion of 16 counts of aggravated criminal damage, eight counts of criminal damage, and one count of criminal trespassing in the first degree, according to the Arizona Republic.

Following his arrest, Shomer created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his legal fees.

“I’m broke and have lost my job. I need help with legal fees to defend myself against Tempe PD,” he wrote, adding, “I’ve got bad PTSD and had an AR-15 in my face 2 days ago. That shit was real scary. Thx so much.”

So far, the page has raised $1,836 of its $10,000 goal.

Prior to his arrest, city officials said in December that they found the phrase on traffic poles, electricity boxes, and other public structures a total of 38 times.

“There’s a lot of resources, time and material that’s being utilized to be able to abate the graffiti. So I like to see this stopped,” Tempe Transportation Maintenance Manager Isaac Chavira told reporters.

Saturday, a Twitter page called Penis Man Fans accused the Tempe Police Department of using Shomer’s arrest as an example to others.

“Tempe PD is attempting level ridiculous trumped up charges against a political dissident in order to make an example, because the Penis Man phenomenon has made them look like fools for the past few months,” the page said.

“Whatever else we must support the arrestee through this,” the post concluded.

However, high school senior Emma Rens said in December that she was not offended by the graffiti but did not want her younger siblings reading it.

“It’s more of a college kid thing. If you want to keep it in your area, that’s fine. But for families to come out to Tempe to walk around and enjoy it, it’s not appropriate for kids, in my opinion,” said Rens.