The battle to get graffiti out of your neighborhood heats up Tuesday as the County Commission considers a plan to make it illegal for teenagers to buy spray paint. The laws already exist in Henderson, North Las Vegas and the city of Las Vegas. Under the plan, anyone caught selling any paraphernalia that could be used for graffiti faces six months in jail and a $1000.00 fine. But as the Crime Tracker 3 team found out, some stores in our valley could actually be contributing to the graffiti problem.

It's a tagger's only tool. A can of spray paint. But it's not supposed to get into the hands of anyone under 18. Metro says that's not what's happening at some stores in our valley.

"We found through numerous sources that they were selling graffiti implements and not checking identification."

Metro's latest investigation led them here to the Boulevard Mall at a store called Workmen's. They ran some undercover teenagers through the store to make purchases, and found they weren't asked for proof of their age. Armed with that information, Metro went in for the bust.

They focused on the warehouse where Workmen's stores all its overflow product. Inside they found evidence that this store supports the graffiti culture.

"We found numerous pictures of vandals and the damage they have done in the area and these were displayed in the store inside a display case and on the walls as a result and there's ongoing investigations involving some of these individuals."

The store and warehouse were cited for sales of spray paint to minors.

"I have no doubt that there are other stores in this town selling. We have information that there are other stores."

Metro hopes this will make other businesses think twice before they sell paint or other graffiti-related items to kids. It's just one way to target the tagger problem at its source. Officers say some of the local vandals are actually working inside these types of stores, letting their friends buy what they need with no questions asked.

Clark County spends about one million dollars a year to remove graffiti from public property. In the last five years the number of homes vandalized has quadrupled.