MISSION VIEJO : $500 Reward Offered for Arrest of Graffiti Vandals

Fed up with spray paint that mars walls and homes throughout their neighborhood, members of the Cordova Homeowners Assn. are offering a $500 reward to anyone who turns in graffiti vandals.

After an outcry from community residents, the association’s board of directors decided to offer the reward to “quash this kind of activity before it gets real popular,” said Jack Durban, president of the association. “We thought if we beefed up our anti-graffiti efforts with a reward, it could lead to a few arrests.”

Residents of the Cordova Homeowners Assn. live in an upscale housing tract at the northeast corner of Marguerite and Crown Valley parkways. Association members said they believe a group of neighborhood teen-agers is responsible for much of the graffiti.

“We have a group of kids here that are heavily involved in gang activity,” Durban said. “They go around marking in other gangs’ territory, and they come back and mark up our neighborhood.”

The association board decided to pay to have the graffiti scrawls removed quickly, but angry residents urged the group to take stronger action.

“We got a lot of calls from outraged citizens asking to do things, like asking the Sheriff’s Department to patrol our area,” Durban said. “We’re starting to realize that it just isn’t low-end neighborhoods that are becoming victims to that kind of crime.”

People of any age who report a graffiti incident to the Cordova Homeowners Assn. are eligible for a reward if the report leads to an arrest, board members said.

The city of Mission Viejo also pays anti-graffiti tipsters, offering $1,000 for information leading to arrest of a graffiti vandal.

Anyone with information about graffiti vandalism may contact the Cordova association at (714) 768-5353.