Manny Castro, the self-described street artist who admitted he painted “Tastes Like Hate” on the side of a Torrance Chick-fil-A last week in response to the chicken empire's anti-gay-marriage stance, has been arrested, Torrance police tell the Weekly.

Sgt. Steven Jenkinson said Castro was collared in West Hollywood about 7 p.m. yesterday.

Castro is was arrested on suspicion of …

… vandalism, according to Torrance police.

Although Castro admitted to the artwork in response to the Chick-fil-A CEO's stance against same-sex marriage, Torrance detectives say they developed independent evidence that leads to the provocateur.

According to a Torrance PD statement:

… Numerous items of evidence were recovered near the scene.

… During the ongoing investigation, Detectives worked to independently identify Castro as a suspect by corroborating Castro's involvement in the vandalism through the available evidence and information from their investigation.

Cops now say Castro might not have been working alone. They have ID'd a “person of interest” they'd like to speak to. If you have info on this mysto artist's assistant, call detectives at 310-618-5570

Police are sending their case to the L.A. County District Attorney's office, which will ultimately decide whether or not Castro will be charged.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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