Newman graduate sentenced to probation, $4,800 in restitution for 2016 vandalism

Peter Curtis (via NOPD)

A graduate of the Isidore Newman School has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from multiple vandalism incidents in 2016 — including a threat to “kill you all” at his alma mater and an anti-religious message at St. George’s school — and will be sentenced to probation and restitution of nearly $5,000, prosecutors announced.

Peter Curtis, 21, was arrested in August 2016 in connection with a rash of at least seven graffiti incidents around the Uptown area, including the threat on the wall of the Newman school on Jefferson Avenue that resulted in school being closed. On Friday, March 23, Curtis pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of “criminal damage to property by defacing with grafitti,” which were reduced from the felony charges of criminal damage to property greater than $500.

For more details, see the news release from District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office below:

Criminal District Judge Arthur Hunter approved the misdemeanor plea agreement as a proper outcome for the case. Hunter imposed a concurrent six-month suspended jail sentence upon Curtis for each count, six months of inactive probation and ordered the defendant to pay $4,831.66 in restitution to affected property owners. The judge also granted two special conditions requested by Cannizzaro’s office: A stay-away order banning Curtis’ return to affected properties, and a prohibition against Curtis owning or possessing firearms while on probation.

Curtis, who graduated from Newman in 2015, entered his guilty plea on the morning of his scheduled trial. In doing so, the defendant admitted defacing with graffiti the Newman School, as well as signs or property belonging to Tulane University’s Newcomb College nursery, St. George’s Episcopal Church and Children’s Hospital New Orleans. Curtis has undergone counseling since his arrest on Aug. 18, 2016, and has since begun a collegiate education in another state without further incident.

Assistant District Attorney Eric Cusimano prosecuted the case.