Meticulous Detective Work Nabs Alleged Graffiti Vandal

It took two years, but Concord Police believe they have the person responsible for writing racist graffiti on homes where refugees were living in the South End. And it was meticulous detective work, a literal “needle in a haystack,” according to Police Chief John Duval, that brought the case to an arrest.

Raymond Stevens, 42, of Pembroke, who also goes by the name of Raynard Stevens, was arrested and arraigned on Oct. 15, on a felony criminal mischief charge. 

According to an affidavit filed with Sixth Circuit District Division Court on Oct. 11, it was the second incident of racist graffiti in August 2012, on the home of a Thompson Street family, that helped with detectives start to put the pieces together in the case. 

All four homes targeted with graffiti in 2011 and 2012 had refugee families living in them. Detectives looked at demographics of the neighborhoods and realized that there were fewer than 10 residences in the South End that had refugee families. They assumed “that the suspect had to had a direct knowledge and familiarity with the neighborhood.”  

While the handwriting of the second incident was written in block letters, there were characteristics that were consistent between all the graffiti.

The affidavit reported that over a period of weeks, the investigation was “exhaustive, but ultimately fruitless,” even though there were several tips phoned into police.

The lead detective on the case began to review criminal case files from the South End before 2009, examining handwriting found in the files, looking specifically for a “distinctive lower-case ‘b’” that was found in the 2011 incidents. Unfortunately, there weren't any matches. So the detective moved onto residential gun license permits which are mostly handwritten and were scanned into a police file. The detective looked through more than 1,500 applications in search of a distinct “b” as well as other letters that matched the graffiti. 

On Sept. 12, 2012, a little more than a month after the second incident of vandalism, the detective came across Raynard Stevens’ application, from June 2009, where the letter “b” appeared to be a match.

“The handwriting similarities were so striking and unexpected that I immediately stopped the overall review in order to focus solely on this application,” the detective wrote in court documents.

Stevens also lived on Downing Street at the time, right near the first graffiti vandalism, and stated on the application that he owned a tattoo shop in Nashua.

Computer checks lead to different name

After checking computer files, the detective determined that Raynard Stevens was actually Raymond Stevens. The police had “limited contact” with Stevens when he lived there. But the detective did find “two notable occasions where Mr. Stevens was encountered on the streets in the late night/early morning hours wearing dark clothing,” according to court documents.

The detective also found two Facebook pages one for himself, where he nicknamed himself "Raypissed," and his band, Inverticrux, described as an extreme, dark metal band. The postings on the personal Facebook page, the detective alleged, included “racist cartoons, graphics, or (diatribes) which were clearly indicative of white supremacist ideology.” A post, from 4:33 a.m. on Sept. 18, 2011, indicated “that he was awake during the time frame that the racist messages were written on the first three homes,” the detective alleged.

The detective then pulled Stevens’ tattoo license from the state of New Hampshire, between 2002 and 2012, and compared the writing samples which were consistent during 10 years of filings, according to the affidavit.

Search warrants

On Sept. 14, 2012, the detective obtained search warrants for Stevens’ home, business, and vehicle, and seized handwriting samples as well as “any and all white supremacist literature.” In all three, police allege, the handwriting in the documents was consistent with Stevens and the racist graffiti.

At the tattoo shop, the detective seized typed letters which addressed the 2011 graffiti incident that were in a folder with other white supremacist propaganda and graphics from the American Nazi Party, according to court documents.

“The letter appeared to be a first-person defense of the racist graffiti, with indications that it was designed to be left on vehicles and lawns in Concord,” according to the affidavit.

Stevens later allegedly denied that he had written the letter and stated that he obtained it at a counter-protest in Concord.

“For several reasons, I did not believe him,” the detective wrote.

The detective said he spoke to Stevens “extensively” about the situation and accused him of authoring the racist graffiti but Stevens allegedly “insisted that this was ‘too extreme’ for him,” and accused police of targeted him for his online activity.

During a search of Stevens’ home, another detective spoke with his then-fiancée who, while agreeing to disagree with him on some issues, didn’t believe he was involved in the case but also wouldn’t talk about the case.

In the home, police allegedly found two photos of racist graffiti on a mural that had been painted on the side of a brick building honoring two African-American Nashua Dodgers players, Don Newcombe and Roy Campanella, including use of the n-word on the mural.

“We considered it a strong possibility that the photos were taken by Mr. Stevens as a memento of his work,” the detective alleged.

Detectives also took out search warrants for two computers Stevens possessed and they alleged that he “posted disturbing and violent comments about African-Americans on YouTube” using a moniker including “Raynard.” Less violent comments using another name were also allegedly attributed to Stevens.

Ex-girlfriend, ex-business associate speak out

During the course of several months, investigators tracked down a number of past associates of Stevens' who alleged that he had committed “hate-motivated acts of criminal mischief against minorities,” all committed late at night or during early morning hours, which were consistent with the graffiti case.

While they were living in Connecticut, an ex-girlfriend alleged that Stevens became involved in white power groups like the World Church of the Creator and New England White Pride and would stay up late at night printing up racist literature to distribute. He also allegedly bragged about painting Swastikas and racist slogans on homes and a synagogue, and called blacks “mud people.”

Sometime in 2006, Stevens opened up the Tattoomb shop in Nashua and the ex alleged that he was upset that a non-white man had opened a clothing store on Main Street near his shop. Stevens allegedly vowed to put the man out of business by breaking the shop’s windows. On three occasions, he allegedly threw bricks through the shop’s windows. Stevens allegedly stopped by the man’s shop, under the guise of being a concerned neighbor, to find out how many more times he had to break the windows in order to get rid of the shop owner, she said.

After reviewing the graffiti, the ex-girlfriend, who lives outside of New Hampshire now, was certain it was Stevens’ work.

Detectives also spoke to a former business associate of Stevens who worked with him at the tattoo shop between 2006 and 2011, and alleged that he espoused white supremacist ideology and was responsible for other criminal mischief attacks in Nashua, including one against the minority clothing store owner. The associate alleged that Stevens was proud of the media coverage which attributed the case to a fan-related vehicular homicide a few days before.

“The associate recalled Ray pointing out the article and photo in the newspaper and ‘beaming with pride’ that he had done this vandalism and that it was blamed on a sports fan,” the affidavit stated.

The ex-associate stated that he and Stevens allegedly threw a rock through a minority-owned tattoo shop in Concord and afterwards, he felt bad about the incident. He never participated in any other incidents and renounced his support of the ideology not long after the incident, according to the report. The ex-associate examined the graffiti and said he was positive it was Stevens’ handwriting and stated that sentiments of the graffiti were similar to statements allegedly made by Stevens during the time he worked with him.

FBI gets involved

In November 2012, Stevens was subpoenaed by a grand jury to submit handwriting samples to see if they compared to the graffiti. An FBI agent was also present to observe the samples and agreed to take them to a laboratory in Virginia for analysis. The agent also noted that it would take several months before it was complete.

In March, a civilian forensic examiner specializing in handwriting samples took a look at even more samples of Stevens’ handwriting, in an effort to obtain a second opinion outside of the FBI. None of the writing had any information which would reveal Stevens’ full name or identity. Neither the FBI nor the forensic examiner knew there were other investigators looking at the handwriting. A week later, the examiner said there was a “strong probability” that it was Stevens’ writing on the first set of graffiti vandalism, adding that she was certain he was guilty of the graffiti. Due to the “level of disguise” in the Thompson Street graffiti, she couldn’t make a determination on that graffiti.

A month later, the FBI sent a report to Concord Police indicating that the first set of samples and the writing samples offered by Stevens “were prepared by the same writer,” according to the affidavit. The FBI couldn’t make a determination on the Thompson Street graffiti “possibly as the result of distortion.”

On Oct. 11, arrest warrants were taken out for Stevens and he was arrested on Oct. 15.

Damage from the graffiti cost about $2,850, according to the four homeowners. One noted that she lost more than $5,300 in rent after one family left the residence and she was unable to find new tenants.