Vandals Ransack Youth Club : Santa Paula: Two hundred children use the Boys and Girls Club each summer day. Files were destroyed and video games were gutted.

Dave Blevins knew something was wrong when he came to work Wednesday and saw the alarm bell ripped off the wall. When he opened the door to the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Paula, he was stunned. Overnight, thieves had thrown files about the office, destroyed office equipment and gutted video games and vending machines.

They also made off with about $500 in cash from the club’s video games and the petty cash box, said Santa Paula Police Agent Greg Guilin. They also took a camera and sports equipment and left scores of children without a place to play Wednesday morning.

“It’s pretty bad when they come down and steal from a bunch of kids,” said Blevins, 40, executive director of the Santa Paula club.

Police have no suspects and the case is under investigation, Guilin said, but both police and club officials said the robbery may have been the work of former or current club members.

“Whoever did it must have known their way around,” Blevins said. The thieves entered through a small office window and attempted to pry open a strongbox containing keys to the video and vending machines, he said.

The thieves apparently ate candy bars and drank soda while they ransacked the club. “They had a feast in here,” said Beatriz Gomez, 18, an office secretary. “They were here for a while. They even used the bathroom.”

Police dusted for fingerprints but found few, Guilin said. “We think they were wearing gloves,” he said, noting that some items, such as empty soda cans, had no prints at all.

The club is bordered by parks, so it is unlikely that there were any witnesses, said Ed Ramirez, program director at the club.

There are 600 members of the Santa Paula club, with ages ranging from 5 to 18, Blevins said. Up to 200 may come to play on an average summer day.

An inside alarm failed to alert the club’s security agency because the vandals had cut the phone lines, Ramirez said.

Vandals also struck a vending machine at the adjacent Little League ballpark, but losses were minimal, police said. Final damage estimates at the club were not available pending an insurance investigation.

An area merchant said he was not surprised by the theft. “There’s been a lot of this in the past two weeks,” said Larry Rericha, 45, president of the Santa Paula Little League and manager of Dave’s Building Supply, a nearby hardware store.

Groups of curious children peered through the clubhouse doors Wednesday morning, upset that they couldn’t use the facility.

“We can’t go in, we can’t check out the basketball, we can’t play pool,” said Jason Ming, 8, of Santa Paula. The clubhouse, a gymnasium-sized room with pool tables and activity areas, reopened in the afternoon. “We had to get all the glass cleaned up first,” Blevins said.

“If they wanted money, why didn’t they rob a bank?” asked Chris Schreiner, 11, who was waiting outside the club. “This is a place where kids come to play.”