HUNTINGTON BEACH : 2 Held on Charges of Defacing Stop Signs

City work crews who have been replacing thousands of dollars’ worth of vandalized stop signs have struck back.

Officials said that after watching two men defacing public signs in the downtown area Thursday, three Public Works Department employees trailed the suspects and called police, who arrested the pair.

Traffic maintenance officer Joe Peca said city workers John Griffin and Geoff Peterson spotted the vandalism.

“We have a lot of stop signs and other public signs defaced by people who put stickers on them,” Peca said. “So many stickers are put on signs that you often can’t read them.”

Peca said Griffin and Peterson spotted two men plastering stickers on a number of stop signs downtown. The two city workers called police, and with the help of another city worker, Duane Wentworth, they tracked the suspects’ movements, Peca said.

Police arrested the pair on Pacific Coast Highway between Newland and Magnolia streets, according to Lt. Jeff Cope. He said the two men are natives of Sweden who recently took up temporary residence in Costa Mesa. They were identified as Hans J. Lindgren, 31, and Anders G. Boberg, 24. Both were booked into City Jail on charges of malicious mischief, Cope said.

Peca said the city’s Public Works Department “spends tens of thousands of dollars each year having to replace signs that vandals put stickers on.” He said the stickers usually destroy the reflective material on stop signs and make the signs unusable.