CLEARLAKE — Public Works employees spent the better part of Friday cleaning up a mess left at Redbud Ballpark by a hood of vandals. The city was forced to spend more than $200 on paint to cover graffiti that appeared Halloween morning.
Although no arrests have been made in relation to the incident as of yet, officers are reportedly closing in on the vandals.
“It”s a specific group responsible for most of the graffiti that we have been seeing lately,” Clearlake Police Lt. Mike Hermann reported. “The officers connected to the investigation have been able to identify the specific group responsible for these incidents and they are currently working on several positive leads in effort to arrest the parties responsible.”
According to Lt. Hermann, the group responsible is believed to be a mixture of young adults as well as juveniles, several of which have been identified.
The latest incident involved massive graffiti on all buildings at Redbud Ballpark. “They painted every building,” Chuck Davis, Public Works crewman said as he worked to repair the Southshore Little League 50th Anniversary emblem on one of the buildings at Redbud Ballpark. “Covering this up has pretty much been an all day job.”
Davis said that the city had to foot the bill for the paint to cover the mess, which he said cost about $200. City staff was unavailable for comment in regard to the city”s cost in staff time.
Due to the costs associated with cleaning up the destruction, Lt. Hermann said that charges can be extended to felony vandalism. “It”s going to be enough for felony vandalism charges, which is $400 or more, with the costs for supplies and staff time,” Lt. Hermann said. “We do have two specific officers assigned to the case and we expect arrests to be made in the near future.”
Lt. Hermann said that in an incident that occurred a few months ago, officers were able to work with several members of the group determined to be responsible for the vandalism to cover up the graffiti. Should arrests be made in this latest incident, those responsible will likely be forced to clean up the mess they”ve made throughout the city.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
