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Graffiti on schools in Carson City and Douglas County included symbols associated with the Straight Edge lifestyle, but a student arrested on a felony charge of defacing property said he was not trying to promote the group through graffiti.

"It was just a dumb mistake," Logan Young-Hanes, 18, of Minden, and a Douglas High School student, said by telephone Thursday. "It wasn't on the behalf of anybody."

Young-Hanes described himself as a former member of Straight Edge, which refers to a philosophy of an alcohol- and drug-free lifestyle and no promiscuous sex.

In 2005, the Regional Gang Unit classified Straight Edge as a gang after a six-month investigation into a series of violent crimes committed by a splinter group of teens who adhere to the lifestyle. Many Straight Edgers have disputed the classification.

Carson City sheriff's deputies April 3 arrested Troy Szczotka, 18, of Carson City after he refused orders to stop while running away from Carson Middle School, a target of previous graffiti attacks.

Szczotka cooperated with investigators and said he had spray painted graffiti at Jacks Valley Elementary School in Douglas County and at places in Carson City with Young-Hanes and a 17-year-old Carson City boy, according to investigative reports.

Szczotka said he did not belong to Straight Edge but that Young-Hanes and the 17-year-old did and that the graffiti the group left behind included markings associated with Straight Edge, investigative reports said.

Young-Hanes surrendered Wednesday at the Carson City Sheriff's Office and was released on $5,000 bail.