If you thought you'd heard the last of 33-year-old Eugene Gimzelberg, the Gilbert man who spent 36 hours in a sewer while naked and tripping on hallucinogenic mushrooms and PCP, guess again -- in addition to his sewer shenanigans, Gimzelberg's apparently a fairly well-known (by police) graffiti artist.
Gilbert Sergeant Bill Balafas tells New Times that Gimzelberg was arrested Saturday after witnesses saw him spray-painting a large mural on a brick wall along railroad tracks near Williams Field High School.
As officers arrived, witnesses watched as Gimzelberg hid a bag he was carrying and walk away from the scene without getting spotted by police.
Witnesses, however, were able to tell police where he'd hidden the bag, in which police found several cans of spray paint.
Police tracked down Gimzelberg and arrested him at his home shortly after discovering the bag. Witnesses identified his as the guy they'd seen tagging the wall.
Following his arrest, police executed a search warrant at Gimzelberg's house in an ongoing graffiti investigation involving 16 separate incidents dating back to 2008. Balafas says the investigation is ongoing but that police believe additional cases will be cleared with Gimzelberg's arrest.
Gimzelberg was booked on suspicion of criminal damage and graffiti.
As we mentioned, this is only Gimzelberg's most recent arrest. You may recall his March arrest when police found him naked -- except for one shoe -- in a 40-foot deep sewer.
It was later determined that he'd spent roughly 36 hours in the sewer. Initially, Gimzelberg claimed he was in the sewer looking for his kids and that his clothes had been ripped off by the current (except that Gilbert fire spokesman Mike Connor told New Times at the time that there was less than an inch of water in the sewer during Gimzelberg's "trip" to the depths of the sewer system).
Gimzelberg later came clean (not literally until he showered) and admitted that he wasn't in the sewer looking for his kids -- rather, he'd smoked weed and PCP and then ate mushrooms before apparently going nutso and stripping down for his trip down under.