Wasilla police hunt for vandals

WASILLA — Police are looking for two boys who they say are behind a rash of spray-paint vandalism that hit a handful of buildings over the weekend.

Wasilla’s Deputy Police Chief Greg Wood said the suspect information came from a witness who saw two boys painting a retaining wall off of Dana Court.

“A guy was parking, getting out of his car. He could smell the paint. He went over and looked over the retaining wall and saw two young men painting it and they took off running,” Wood said.

He said the boys are young — likely age 12 or 13.

In addition to the wall, Wood said, the same blue and yellow spray paint was found on the post office, on a neck and back injury clinic on Main Street, on a private vehicle on Knik Street and at Mat-Su Early Development Academy on Nelson Avenue. Officers estimate that all-told, the damage done runs to $2,000.

The academy’s owner, Connie Back, said she was upset that some of the things painted on her building were swear words.

“They decide that they can write all these words so that the children can see them and read them,” she said of the vandals. “We teach kids to read.”

Wood said that, in general, this type of vandalism tends to increase in the summertime. But the most recent rash, he said, was above and beyond the normal summertime activity. He said there’s always a worry that the vandalism could be somehow gang-related. Officers have checked with the gang task force in Anchorage.

“There’s no gang connection here that we can tell,” Wood said.

He said a lot of the paintings contained the word, “Icon!!”

“It’s a clothing line, it’s an expensive motorcycle clothing line,” he said.

Back said she owns the daycare but leases the building. By Monday afternoon the building’s owner had removed the spray paint.

Vandalism, she said, is tough on a small businessperson like herself, who have a tough enough time making ends meet without having to worry about what some kid is going to paint on their walls when the business is closed.

“I started it with nothing and I scraped and scraped and it took a long time,” she said. “We’re finally starting to make it.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.