BOSTON— After a brief respite from the controversial whirlwind that swept him up in copyright infringement and vandalism charges earlier this year — during which time he spoke to ARTINFO about his latest campaign poster of Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi — Shepard Fairey is back in the headlines again for pleading guilty to three counts of vandalism in a Boston Municipal Court. By agreeing to the plea deal, the 39-year-old street artist avoided prosecution of 11 other counts of vandalism that were pending.

Two of the charges to which Fairey pleaded guilty were recent acts of vandalism, while one occurred in Brighton, Massachusetts, in 2000. As part of the arrangement, Fairey has also agreed not to carry stickers, posters, wheat paste, or any other graffiti-making tools while in Suffolk County for the next two years, and will pay a $2,000 fine to the Graffiti NABBers for the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay, a group that opposes his work. He issued an apology to the citizens of Boston, saying, "I believe in the importance of making art accessible through many avenues, and I will continue to advocate the use of legal public spaces for meaningful artistic expression and communication.... However, I also believe it is important that people respect private property and do not use it without the authorization of the owner."

Read more at the Boston Globe.