Lynn police nab two for tagging

LYNN – Dung Tran is furious.His store, Dee’s Corner Variety, which sits on the corner of Western Avenue and Mall Street, was sprayed with graffiti before dawn Thursday, allegedly at the hands of two Lynn men.”People keep doing this to my store,” Tran shouted. “They’re just stupid people!”Police say the suspects allegedly involved in the tagging are Edward James Matthias, 33, of 11 Silver Lake Place, #1, charged with four counts of defacing property and trespassing, and Larry Carl Blaney, 36, of 9 Tower Ave., charged with three counts of defacing property, carrying a dangerous weapon and trespassing. Both suspects were arraigned Thursday at Lynn District Court by Judge James Lamothe and released on personal recognizance. A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 4.According to court documents, a city man tipped off the police to the alleged tagging at Dee’s Corner Variety and at the Market Square Family Health building, located at 674 Western Ave. He said he saw the suspects spraying the sides of the buildings before they jumped into a Chevy Silverado and managed to quickly scribble down the license number.Police ran the number and set up surveillance at the home where the truck is registered. After a few minutes, they spotted Matthias running on Chestnut Street, out of breath, sweating and bleeding from his left hand.Then police say they spotted Blaney, allegedly hiding behind some bushes in the alley of 16 Union St. His hands were allegedly covered in black, silver and red spray paint, a can of spray paint was found in the area and a spring-loaded knife was found in his left pocket.While arresting both suspects, police say they noticed fresh graffiti on the side of 20 Union St., which was similar in nature to the graffiti sprayed on the other buildings.During Matthias’ booking, police say he had silver spray paint on his hand, and allegedly referred to Blaney several times as “Diz” and “JR” which police say were both spray painted on the buildings. The word “Mentor” is allegedly tattooed on Matthias’ back, with “MENT” also being one of the tags.Tran, who has owned Dee’s Corner Variety for 14 years, isn’t exactly pleased that he has to foot the bill to repaint his store.”This has happened about seven times already,” he said. “I try to keep the store clean, but these people who keep doing this?they’re terrible people.”