The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office is investigating at least 11 cases of vandalism in the Lakewood Park neighborhood.
Deputies say someone sprayed graffiti on vehicles, mailboxes, sheds and near the bathrooms of a public park.
The graffiti included profanity, racial slurs, inappropriate images and hateful symbols such as swastikas.
Residents along Penny Lane, North Blvd., Fort Pierce Blvd., Seminole Road, Sebastian Road and Kings Highway reported the vandalism to the sheriff’s office between Friday night and Saturday morning.
Cliff Rowley found a swastika, racial slurs and other images on his driveway, a work van and a personal car.
“I called the sheriff’s office and the came out and took pictures…. It would be nice to find [the vandals] and let them know this isn’t the right thing to be doing,” Rowley said.
He spent nearly two hours washing the graffiti off of his property, and knows it will likely cost hundreds of dollars to repair the paint on his van.
Other victims reported potentially thousands of dollars in damage to get rid of the paint.
Over at the Lakewood Recreational Park, the graffiti was sprayed where children could have potentially seen the images.
Susie Schwab was grateful it was painted over by the time she brought her 2-year-old son to the park Tuesday afternoon.
“When he’s older and able to read, I’d hate to have to explain to him what those words mean and where they came from,” Schwab said.
Deputies have canvassed the area to try to find the spray cans. They’ve also checked with local stores to see if anyone recently sold the spray cans, in the colors used in the graffiti, but so far they are still looking for a good lead.
They also have not been able to find surveillance video.
Now, they’re asking Lakewood Park residents with surveillance video that faces the roadway to check if they captured anyone suspicious Friday night into Saturday morning.
Anyone with any information about the crimes can contact Detective Matt Briglia at 772-462-3279.