NEWPORT BEACH : 11 Arrested in Vandalism Incident

Police arrested 11 suspected gang members from Rialto early Friday after the group allegedly spray-painted gang monikers on walls, homes, street lamps and even a sports car along four beachfront blocks.

The graffiti was sprayed on more than 30 spots along the boardwalk between 32nd and 36th streets, making this the city’s largest single incident of vandalism, according to Newport Beach Police Sgt. Andy Gonis.

City Manager Kevin J. Murphy took the unusual action of allowing city crews to clean the vandalized block walls in front of homes, even though the walls are on private property.

“It’s a high-visibility area,” said city General Services Director David Niederhaus. “If we left it in place, we felt like tonight, it would encourage more graffiti.”

At about 2:15 a.m. Friday, police officers received a call from a resident about a group of young men spray-painting graffiti on the boardwalk at 32nd Street, Gonis said. The group tried to flee when the first officer arrived, but the suspects were arrested by other officers responding to the scene.

One of the three adults arrested, Armando Amador, 21, was holding a can of black spray paint and had paint on his hands, Gonis said. Amador was arrested on suspicion of vandalism, while the other two adults, Edwin Villanueva, 20, and Mike Durnan, 18, were arrested on suspicion of being on the beach after hours.

Four boys ages 13 to 17 and four girls ages 15 to 17 were also arrested--one on suspicion of possessing a dagger, one on suspicion of vandalism, and six on suspicion of violating beach hours and curfew, according to Gonis. Their names were withheld because they are juveniles.

Gonis said the suspects are gang members and were spray-painting the initials of their gangs. Some of them apparently had been drinking, he said.

City officials found the graffiti on street lamp posts, the side of a house and even the fender of a Porsche, Gonis said.

Niederhaus said that 21 private properties were damaged and that the total estimated cost to sandblast and paint over the graffiti was $1,800. The city will seek restitution from the suspects, officials said.

“I’m thoroughly disgusted,” said one oceanfront homeowner as she surveyed the black writing scrawled several feet high on a gray block wall in front of her home near 32nd Street. “We all pay taxes and try to keep our property looking nice and these hoodlums come in and destroy it.”