/>Over the past few weeks we’ve been posting “prison stories” from around the
world. On Thanksgiving day, the Washington Post ran an update on the court
hearing of Brof.

Our favorite part - he came to his hearing wearing
clothes stained with paint.

Here’s the article:

/>Borf Artist Dresses the Part for Court Appearance

/>By Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November
24, 2005; Page B01

Four months after his arrest, the accused graffiti
outlaw known as Borf showed up for a court hearing in an unfortunate choice of
attire: His coat, pants and shoes were all stained with paint. His black coat so
resembled the one he wore in a newspaper feature about his exploits that the
judge declared it evidence and ordered him to hand it over to the
prosecution.

John Tsombikos, who has said in interviews that he used
the pseudonym Borf to sign graffiti on scores of D.C. walls, signs and
buildings, apparently felt no need to try to change that impression Friday in
D.C. Superior Court. Besides the splotchy clothing, the 18-year-old had fresh
scrapes on his neck that an investigator described as “consistent with nicks and
scratches that graffiti artists receive when climbing fences.”

His
appearance raised suspicions that Borf is back in the tagging business, law
enforcement officials said. Then came another sign: Shortly after the hearing, a
block from the courthouse, investigators spotted a previously unseen “Borf” tag
on an old emergency call box.

The clothing, the scratches and the tag
were cited by prosecutors this week in an affidavit seeking a warrant to search
the Great Falls house where Tsombikos lives with his parents, Kathleen Murphy
and Konstantine Tsombikos.

Investigators searched the house on Arnon
Meadow Road on Tuesday night, looking for rock-climbing equipment and utility
blades, paints and other art supplies, according to the affidavit. They also
sought hotel, money order and car rental receipts and cell phones, digital
cameras, credit card records, bus and airline tickets, newspaper clippings and
passports—any of which, the affidavit says, could provide “potential evidence
of a conspiracy” that might stretch to fellow taggers and other jurisdictions,
“including New York, San Francisco, Italy, Greece and Paris.”

/>Authorities declined to reveal yesterday what, if anything, they discovered at
the house. They are required to file an inventory with the court in the next few
days.

No one returned messages seeking comment yesterday afternoon at
the Tsombikos house, the New York-based construction business of Konstantine
Tsombikos or the offices of John Tsombikos’s lawyer.

Tsombikos’s
clandestine existence as one of the region’s most prolific graffiti taggers was
described at length in The Washington Post on July 14, a day after he was
arrested on Georgia Avenue NW and charged with defacing property, a misdemeanor.
Last month, a grand jury indicted him on a felony charge of destruction of
property, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $5,000 in fines. Tsombikos
has been free on personal recognizance, with a trial scheduled Feb. 7.

/>In the news article, Tsombikos spoke of traveling by Greyhound bus with a
friend to create graffiti in San Francisco and of spray-painting his distinctive
designs—often containing a young man’s face or the image of a little girl,
the Borf moniker and sayings such as “Grownups Are Obsolete”—in Manhattan and
Raleigh, N.C., as well. He was photographed next to graffiti, wearing a mask and
a black hooded jacket like the one the judge confiscated.

Channing
Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, declined to say yesterday
where the case is headed.

“Right now, no new charges have been filed,
and this is an ongoing investigation, so it would be inappropriate at this time
to comment further,” Phillips said.

The affidavit, filed in Fairfax
Circuit Court, speaks volumes.

It says Tsombikos has been interviewed
on Web sites and admitted creating graffiti, sometimes while disguised. A rally
at Dupont Circle after his arrest included people handing out paint and others
spraying “Borf has not been caught” on placards, it says.

The
affidavit also notes that numerous Borf-like images have been spotted since
Tsombikos’s arrest. It reveals that authorities have been monitoring his
activities since his arrest—even checking his trash.

Fairfax
County police searched trash outside the Great Falls house in August and found
“spray paint cans, several life-sized stencils and drawings of Borf, and New
York Police Department patrol vehicle templates,” the affidavit says.

/>D.C. officials have described Borf as a menace who has defaced many
neighborhoods. According to the affidavit, the District’s bill for cleaning up
Borf-related graffiti has topped $40,000.

Judge Lynn Leibovitz has
set a hearing for Dec. 7 to decide whether bond should be set for Tsombikos. She
ordered him last week to stay out of the District, save for court appearances,
until his trial.

Staff writer Tom Jackman contributed to this
report.