Sunday, September 14, 2008

Vandals damage, graffiti Chula Vista medical office

UNION-TRIBUNE

7:13 p.m. September 11, 2008

CHULA VISTA – Police say vandals caused more than $4,000 damage to a pediatrics medical office Wednesday night, smashing computers and scrawling Nazi swastikas and anti-Hispanic graffiti on the walls.

The vandalism was discovered about 8 a.m. Thursday by employees arriving for work at Heritage Park Pediatrics on East Palomar Street near Monarch Drive, said Pamela Fish, a pediatric nurse practitioner.

“They targeted an office that serves a huge Hispanic population, and we're very concerned,” Fish said. “We had to shut down in the morning to repair the damage.”

Officer Glenn Stark said the vandals forced open a rear door to the clinic, broke open file cabinets and stole two cash boxes with an undisclosed amount of money. They smashed three laptop computers and a computer keyboard and scrawled several 9-inch Nazi swastikas and obscenities on the clinic walls.

Chula Vista police said it was the fourth time in the last two months that vandals have defaced property in the city with racist messages.

Vandals painted swastikas and the number 666 on two Berean Baptist Church vans on July 7, and on a concrete sign in front of Mater Dei Catholic High School on Aug. 1, police said.

Also, swastikas were painted Aug. 5 on a wall in the 1200 block of Turtle Cay Place, and on Aug. 19 on a building at Heritage Park, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (619) 691-5151.

Source: SignOnSanDiego

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