Perth train jumper Matthew Raoul White admits US graffiti vandalism spree

The Fremantle train jumper — who was eventually unmasked as prolific international graffiti tagger Matthew Raoul White — is facing a hefty stint in a US jail after pleading guilty in a California court to a felony vandalism charge.

White, 33, was arrested at San Francisco Airport late last year as he tried to board a flight to Sydney, still with spray-paint on his clothes.

It was alleged White, pictured, had spray painted Bay Area Rapid Transit trains with the moniker “Bamp Floss” and “GH” — short for the ‘Get Hectik’ crew of which White is an integral member.

And facing accusations of causing more than $10,000 damage after targeting and tagging at least seven train cars in San Mateo and Contra Costa counties, White last week admitted to one felony count while having another dropped.

That count carries a potential jail term of three years, with a judge set to hand down his sentence later this year. White will remain in jail on $US400,000 bail.

White was being watched by law enforcement agencies in Australia, New York and California, after authorities here tipped off their US colleagues that he was on his way to the US last December.

Courts in Victoria and Queensland had already labelled White a public nuisance.

He had been prosecuted in WA on a string of criminal damage and trespass charges in 2011 and 2012.

The tags were shown to police internationally and were confirmed to be the same as those in Australia.

With San Francisco police aware of White’s presence in their city, when the distinctive graffiti turned up on a number of expensive rail cars they swooped as he tried to leave the country.

Australian authorities “positively identified all the graffiti as having been done by the defendant based on prior investigation,” prosecutors in San Mateo said.

White’s lawyer, V. Roy Lefcourt, said his client now felt bad and “wants to put his life back together”.

But that might not be easy, given after news of his latest arrest broke, WA Police Minister Michelle Roberts labelled him a “a national disgrace and a national embarrassment”.

That stemmed from his lunatic stunt captured on film last April, which showed him making the potentially deadly jump from the roof of a train crossing the Fremantle rail bridge, narrowly missing a concrete pylon and live overhead wires.