(b) Gang Membership and Activities Prohibited.
(1) No person shall knowingly participate in or be a member of a criminal street gang or willfully commit, or aid and abet the commission of, a criminal act committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with, any criminal street gang.
(2) In the prosecution of any person for participating in any criminal gang activity, it is an affirmative defense that, prior to the commission of or attempt to commit an offense, the actor thwarted the success of the criminal street gang and terminated his or her involvement in such criminal street gang under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of his or her membership in such criminal street gang.
(c) Gang Communications.
(1) No person shall knowingly make, by gesture or other expression, any communication depicting criminal street gang communications or criminal street gang symbols.
(2) No person shall negligently display or permit the display of, or fail to remove any form of, graffiti, drawings, communications or words depicting criminal street gang communications or criminal street gang symbols on any real or personal property owned, leased or controlled by that person within thirty (30) days of being notified thereof by any competent authority.
(d) Declaration of Nuisance. The existence of criminal street gang graffiti, communications, signs or symbols on any building, structure or other surface in the City, in violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, is hereby declared to be a public nuisance, the continuance of which threatens the safety and welfare of the residents of the City, and such nuisance must be razed or eradicated immediately to prevent injury or the possibility thereof to the life or property of the residents of the City. The nuisance may be abated as such action is described in the Building and Housing Code.
(e) Forfeiture of Property.
(1) Whenever any property, whether real, personal or otherwise, has been knowingly used in the commission of a violation of any of the provisions of this section, or any provision of the Ohio Revised Code prohibiting criminal street gang activity, the property shall be subject to the forfeiture provisions of ORC 2933.41 et. seq.
(2) It is an affirmative defense to a forfeiture under this section that the owner of the property exercised due diligence to prevent the property from being used in the commission of a criminal act and that, within thirty (30) days subsequent to notification of the commission of any offense involving property under his or her ownership or control, the owner of such property exercised due diligence in attempting to remove or abate the prohibited street gang communication, sign or symbol.
(f) Penalty.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever violates any of the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree. If such violation creates a risk of physical harm to any person, the offender is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree. If the offender has no prior violations of this or any other similar prohibition, then, in addition to any other penalty imposed, the offender may be ordered to participate in an educational awareness program which presents the dangers of participation in gang activity.
(2) Whoever violates division (d) of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor. A separate offense shall be deemed committed each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues.
(Ord. 96-41. Passed 05/09/96. Ord. 19-22. Passed 11/26/19)