San Jose giraffe graffiti artist to pay $38,000 restitution

San Francisco resident Steven Free (a 32-year-old man), known on the street as "Girafa", will pay the city and local property owners $38,000, a judge has ruled.

He will also serve three years' probation after pleading guilty to two felony counts of vandalism and a pair of misdemeanor vandalism charges, San Jose police said Thursday.

The restitution will pay back the city and private property owners for the damage investigators were able to document.

Police said the capture was especially significant because they subscribe heavily to the "broken windows" crime theory.