Suit Aims at Teens’ Vandalism : Graffiti: Parents of youths accused of using glass cutters to mark windows and mirrors at a Torrance mall could be liable for damages. Seven boys are accused.

A new rash of graffiti in the South Bay that cannot be scrubbed off, painted over or otherwise cleaned up has prompted a Torrance mall to file a lawsuit against the accused teen-age vandals, who allegedly used glass cutters to deface windows and mirrors.

Owners of the Del Amo Fashion Center filed a lawsuit last week in Torrance Superior Court that demands a total of $50,000 in damages from seven teen-age boys accused of scratching graffiti onto glass surfaces at the mall.

A lawyer for The Torrance Co., which owns the shopping center, said he will try to collect damages from the boys’ parents, invoking a portion of the state Civil Code that says parents can be held liable for their children’s misdeeds. Each family could be liable for up to $10,000, said the company’s lawyer, Daniel B. Diederich.

Police say that Del Amo is one of several South Bay malls that teen-agers have “tagged”--or scrawled with their nicknames. The Galleria at South Bay in Redondo Beach and the Hawthorne Plaza Mall have also been hit by the vandals, who are not gang members, police and mall managers said.

The practice of “tagging” has become more costly lately because the vandals have forsaken spray paint for glass cutters in an attempt to leave more permanent markings, said Ken Poole of The Torrance Co.

“They are just telling their friends that they have been by,” Poole said. “It’s an expensive way to do that and we would certainly hope they would find a better way to do it.”

The company has already spent more than $10,000 replacing some of the mall’s exterior glass walls and interior mirrors, Poole said.

A mall security guard caught one of the teen-agers in December as he was scratching his nickname on restroom mirrors at the mall’s Aladdin Arcade, a popular hangout for young people, Torrance Police Sgt. Ron Traber said.

The teen-ager identified several other youths who had been leaving their marks around the mall. One particularly prevalent mark was “D.I.S.,” apparently standing for “Dissidents in Society,” Torrance police said.

Seven boys, ages 15 to 17, are named in the lawsuit. Three youths also face criminal charges filed by the Torrance Police Department.

The criminal charges and increased patrols by mall security officers have nearly eliminated the vandalism, Poole said. Most of the damaged glass and mirrors have already been replaced.

Duane Bishop, manager of Galleria at South Bay, said the Redondo Beach mall suffered about $2,000 in damage this winter to restroom mirrors. Bishop said the string of mirror scratchings ended when mall security officers increased patrols and confronted teen-age mall employees suspected of the vandalism.

The J. C. Penney department store at Hawthorne Plaza suffered repeated damage to its exterior glass walls last year, mall manager Bill Demarest said. But the problem ended when the store replaced several panes of glass with wood paneling.

Bishop said the Del Amo mall’s lawsuit should serve as an additional deterrent.

“The message is out there now,” Bishop said, “that if you are caught, not only will the individual be in trouble, but we’ll go after the parents too.”