Alex Slitz/Daily NewsGraffiti mars the former Save-A-Lot building on College Street.

A group of five Bowling Green residents allegedly linked to a string of graffiti vandalism will face charges.

Anthonie Messer, 19, Marquise Carter, 18, Michael Roberson, 22, Brittany Koopman, 18, and Tiffany Hillard, 18, face a total of 28 misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief and two counts of criminal trespassing, also misdemeanors.

The Warren County Attorney’s Office plans to issue criminal summonses to the five people.

The citations follow an investigation by the Bowling Green Police Department into 16 separate incidents of criminal mischief dating back more than two weeks.

City police began their investigation after an anonymous tip, discovering graffiti tags at numerous locations.

The tags were found on trash bins outside Lovers Lane Apartments, under the College Street walking bridge at 1200 Old Louisville Road, on the rooftop of 440 Main Ave. downtown and on the walls of numerous other businesses throughout the city.

“Graffiti painting on someone else’s property is not art, it’s not a prank, it’s a crime,” said Officer Barry Pruitt, spokesman for the Bowling Green Police Department. “It causes thousands of dollars in damage to our community.”

City police reports indicate that each of the five cited left his or her own distinct calling card on the buildings where they sprayed their graffiti tags. Carter, for instance, used “rize” as his tag, while Koopman tagged buildings with “pink,” police say.

At some locations, the tag “FAM” was left, signifying the name of the group of taggers, according to police reports.

Officers were able to link the group to the vandalism through photos posted on individual members’ Facebook and MySpace pages, Pruitt said.

The criminal trespassing charges stem from when two of the members unlawfully entered property owned by CSX, Pruitt said.

According to city police, the investigation also led to three criminal mischief cases outside the city limits in which an additional suspect was identified and more charges are pending.

Criminal mischief is a misdemeanor if the amount of damage caused by defacing the property is less than $1,000 and becomes a felony if the damage exceeds that amount.