Man charged with felony in Obama mural defacing

The mural after the most recent defacement. The mural after the most recent defacement. Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Man charged with felony in Obama mural defacing 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

A suspect has been charged in a recent defacing of a mural of President Barack Obama near a popular midtown restaurant.

Michael Dale Kroetsch, 58, was charged Friday with felony criminal mischief in the 339th State District Court. He was not in custody late Friday afternoon, Houston Police Department spokesman John Cannon said.

The charge against Kroetsch stems from an incident in the early hours of Jan. 28, in which someone defaced the larger-than-life mural with paint. Surveillance video of that incident helped lead police to file charges against Kroetsch, Cannon said.

It was the second act of vandalism against the mural, which is on a building at Alabama and Travis, across the street from The Breakfast Klub.

The first incident occurred early Oct. 16, when someone threw red paint onto the image painted by artist Reginald C. Adams.

Following both incidents, Adams and Breakfast Klub owner Marcus Davis organized a public repainting of the image.

The most recent repainting took place Feb. 13, when about a dozen volunteers helped Adams create a new image showing Obama holding a baby boy.

The portrait was taken from a photograph of Obama taken in recent months at a town-hall rally in Youngstown, Ohio, Adams said.

For this mural, Adams and his crew used only aerosol spray cans.

"It's probably the largest mass-graffiti mural painted legally in Houston by non-graffiti artists," Adams said.

Four days after the latest mural was painted, Davis detained a man outside the restaurant with open paint cans, but police could not charge him because no one saw him throw any paint, Cannon said.

In a curious turn of events, Adams said he received an email Friday from the mother of the baby, letting him know she and her husband were "thrilled" their son was included in the mural.

A friend of hers had contacted her after seeing a national television report about the mural being defaced and twice repainted by volunteers.

The mother looked up the story online and made contact with Adams, he said.

"This has been so fascinating how the vandalism has created all these new opportunities and relationships," he said.

Anyone who knows the whereabouts of Michael Kroetsch is asked to call Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477), Cannon said.