Racist, Anti-Semitic Graffiti Mar Model Home Site

Racist and anti-Semitic graffiti were found along 50 feet of fence outside a model home complex on Wednesday.

The large, neon-blue scrawlings that included several “KKK” symbols and profanity aimed at Jews shocked residents of an adjoining townhome complex off Schooner Cove Road, near Alicia Parkway and Niguel Road.

“It’s horrible, I saw it outside my window,” one neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said Thursday. “This is a quiet neighborhood; this kind of thing doesn’t usually happen here.”

A group of teen-agers was seen near the isolated cul-de-sac where the model homes are located shortly before the graffiti was discovered, according to neighbors.

Neighbors said they saw about six boys, about 13 to 15 years old, congregating near the fence Wednesday afternoon. The youths were said to be riding bicycles.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies were on the scene Wednesday to take a report, but have no suspects. Sheriff’s Lt. Joe Davis said Thursday that the incident was not being treated as a hate crime because it wasn’t aimed at one individual or group.

“It was more of a tagging kind of thing, although the graffiti wasn’t even as sophisticated as that,” Davis said. “We are treating this as an open vandalism case.”

The graffiti, which included several pentagrams, were spray-painted on the outside of a wooden fence surrounding three model homes on Dane Court. The vandals also marked the outside wall of one of the model homes with the letters “KKK.”

Bill Emery, a vice president of sales for Shapell Ind. of Beverly Hills, which owns the model homes, said: “This has never happened at any of our developments before. It’s very upsetting.”

“I don’t think a big deal should be made of it,” he added. “It might only encourage further actions like this.”

More than 30 youths, mostly underage boys, have been arrested in South County for graffiti vandalism since Jan. 1. Two Laguna Niguel middle school students were arrested last week for tagging, Davis said.

Former Laguna Niguel City Councilman Paul Christiansen, who lives in a neighboring housing tract, said he was disgusted by a recent increase in graffiti.

“We’ve had an alarming surge of graffiti,” he said. “A year ago, you had to go searching for it, but now it’s all around us. From what I’ve seen, Laguna Niguel needs to quadruple its gang suppression funding.”