American Vandal

Uh, please state your name, and who you are.

My name is Dylan Maxwell, and I'm...

I don't know, dude. I'm just Dylan.

What do you mean, who am I? That's a stupid question.

That's okay.

Um... Uh, now, just look at me, and not the camera, please.

Dylan, why am I interviewing you?

- Because everyone thinks I did it. - Did what?

The dicks.

KOYF3's Erin Caldwell is live on the scene in Oceanside. Erin?

Chris, it is a shocking scene for Hanover High teachers

who left school today only to find their cars vandalized with obscene images.

It was supposed to be a quiet administrative day at Hanover High.

A day off for students, teachers took part in a series of mandatory faculty...

- Oh, my God, dude. - Look what happened at school.

They put a big one on my Jeep Wrangler behind me.

They got this entire row, as you can see.

All the way back there, they must've made a big loop,

- and got pretty much everybody. - Holy shit.

- Are you getting the head? - Yeah.

For Principal Janet Regan,

this type of mischief is no laughing matter.

I'm sure they thought it was a prank.

But it's destruction of property. We'll find out who did it.

The vandal spray-painted obscene images on 27 cars

in the staff parking lot, causing an estimated $100,000 in damages.

As of now, investigators have no leads.

Soon as I heard about the dicks, I knew.

- This is what Dylan does. - Dylan's a burnout loser.

Of course, he did it.

Dylan Maxwell is the stupidest kid I've ever met.

He's a fucking idiot.

This is not an isolated incident.

Dylan has a history

- of this kind of behavior. - Dylan.

- This administration... - Dylan!

...has exhausted all other disciplinary options with Dylan.

For the sake of the other students and their learning environment,

I strongly recommend that you vote to expel Dylan Maxwell

for vandalizing the 27 vehicles.

- Do you know who did it? - No.

But, like...

"fuck you" to whoever did.

I mean, seriously.

Like, it's super fucking funny, so, that's all chill, but...

like, letting me get expelled for something I didn't even do is just...

It's just such a bitch move.

Consider for a moment the type of person

who would spray-paint dicks on cars in the staff parking lot.

What do they look like? Who do they hang out with?

Where do they sit in the cafeteria?

What kind of grades do they get?

Is this what you're imagining?

Probably not.

How about her?

Or him?

Or her?

It doesn't seem right.

Or are you picturing someone more like this?

Yeah. You're not alone.

The school board thought so, too.

Everyone thinks I did it.

Like, everyone.

Except for my boys and my girl.

Who I was with at the time.

But no one believes us.

So, here's what we know.

Tuesday, March 15th, 2016.

It was an admin day, so, no classes were held.

Twenty-seven dicks were spray-painted onto 27 cars in the staff parking lot

of Hanover High School in Oceanside, California.

It was horrible.

I had to drive home with a big...

...penis on my car.

The children in the neighborhood saw it.

I'll never understand what's so amusing about penises.

The vandalism occurred between two and 2:30.

We know this because the security footage in the parking lot

from that time frame is missing.

Oceanside Police took statements and collected spray paint left

at the northeast corner of the parking lot.

A criminal hearing for Dylan will likely take place this summer.

It will take the district court months to process charges for felony vandalism,

but the school board only needed two weeks to process their decision.

Join us.

- Hi, Pat. - Hi.

- Come on. - Perfect.

I'm so sorry.

- I didn't do it, Mom. - I know.

When Dylan does, like, something stupid, and he does stupid things all the time,

I mean, he usually will... He admits it to me. I mean...

I could... Well, okay, so, he doesn't admit it.

He lies to me a lot. But I can tell when he's lying,

and he knows that I can tell when he's lying,

so, he knows he can't really lie to me,

because when he looks at me, and he lies, and I ask him a question,

it's like his ears get red on the top, so, I know.

So, I don't think that he did it.

Because...

I just don't.

I've personally known Dylan for two years.

We're part of Hanover High School's Morning Show.

Hi. Welcome to the Morning Show.

Today is Wednesday, January 20th, and it is a C day.

My name is Peter Maldonado.

I'm a reporter on the show. He's a cameraman.

Madison with today's menu.

If I'm being honest, I can't say I really like Dylan.

Mostly because he's always doing stuff like this.

...some exciting new additions to the lunch menu.

Today, we have tacos and meatloaf...

Disruptive, disrespectful, a history of poor decisions.

You can see why the school board was convinced

that Dylan was the type of person to do the dicks.

The label fit.

So, all the school board had to do was make their case.

And it's a compelling one. It's damning.

The school structured their case against Dylan using four major points.

Can you tell us where you were on the afternoon of March 15th?

Sure. Uh, I'd just come back to pick up some books.

Um, we had a science test next day, I went to grab them from my locker.

I came out into the parking lot, and...

...I saw Dylan Maxwell spray-painting the cars.

You are certain that it's Dylan?

Oh, hundred percent.

So, tell me exactly what you saw.

Oh, well, I was coming out of the school over there.

And I kind of noticed something, out of the corner of my eye, so, I turned.

That's where I saw him.

And he just went... Every single car along this row.

Dick.

Dick.

Dick.

Dick.

So, would you say he was frantic about it,

- or going kind of slow, at his own pace? - No.

He was methodical about it.

That's what was so messed up. Like he had the whole thing planned out.

There's no way you could've mistaken Dylan for someone else?

You're positive it was Dylan?

No, it was... It was definitely Dylan Maxwell.

From the day he came forward, Alex Trimboli had one story,

a consistent story.

And it made the school board's case against Dylan clean and simple.

All Dylan had to do was provide a reliable alibi

to contradict Alex Trimboli.

Dylan's friends were his best bet.

They call themselves the Wayback Boys.

But when it comes to reliability, they don't exactly fit the bill.

The day after the vandalism,

Vice Principal Keene called in Dylan and his friends for separate interviews

to see if they could keep their story straight.

They couldn't.

Okay, great. Have a seat. So, you know why you're here, right?

Yeah, probably 'cause of the dicks.

So, where were you yesterday afternoon?

I was at Lucas Wiley's house. We were prank calling his neighbor.

- Hello? - Jansen? They're on to you.

You know too much, right? Especially about 9/11.

And you were there the whole day?

Pretty much. I left for a bit to go to my girlfriend Mackenzie's house,

but other than that, yeah.

Well, that's not what your friends said.

What did they say?

So, where were you yesterday afternoon?

I was at Lucas Wiley's house.

We were making prank calls.

And where was Dylan Maxwell?

He was there with us.

- The whole day? - Yeah.

I mean, he left for a little bit to go to Priceless Moments to take a dump.

So, Dylan left?

Yeah. He shits at Priceless Moments.

It's this antique store down the street from my house.

He doesn't like my bathroom. My mom has one of those squishy seats.

Dylan says the squishy toilet seats are like pressing your butt

against someone else's butt, and then pooping into their butthole.

Okay, okay.

Mackenzie, on the afternoon of March 15th,

do you remember where Dylan was?

Yeah, he was, uh, hanging over at Lucas Wiley's,

and then he came and dropped off dog food at my place.

Great. Do you remember about what time he came to drop off the dog food?

Um, like two-ish, 2:10, 2:15.

Okay. Well, sometime... Would you say sometime between two and 2:30?

- Yeah. - Okay, great.

Um, do you have any proof that he was there?

Um...

I saw him.

Okay. Um...

But if Dylan's friends all agree on Priceless Moments,

why doesn't his girlfriend?

I saw him.

- You saw him. - Yes.

You say he's at your house.

His friends say he's at an antique store.

And then we have vandalism at the high school.

All in the same 30-minute period.

So, let's see if we can try and sort, uh, some of this out.

All right. What I have right now is purple for theories and yellow for facts.