Abandoned Cars Are Hauled Away

Tow trucks directed by Orange County sheriff’s deputies made a clean sweep of a residential neighborhood in San Juan Capistrano on Wednesday, hauling away 19 automobiles that had been abandoned on crowded streets.

“Some of those cars had been there for as long as a year,” Deputy Steve Cuddy said. “We’re running checks through our computers to see if any of them were reported stolen.”

The action was taken in response to complaints from the Homeowners Assn. of Capistrano Villas, according to a spokeswoman in the San Juan Capistrano Public Works Department.

“It’s a neighborhood of condominiums in the north part of town, a place where there just normally are more cars than there are garages. Those things abandoned there as junk simply made things worse.”

So many cars were involved in the action Wednesday that the job had to be divided among several towing services, she said, adding that it is not known yet what will be done with the vehicles.