1 Held After Schools Hit by Vandalism

Police arrested an 18-year-old man Thursday, after he was spotted earlier in the week on a bicycle, toting a large bag of Gummi Bear candies believed to have been stolen from a Costa Mesa school during a rash of school vandalism over the holiday weekend, police said.

Eric Amos of Costa Mesa was stopped for a bicycle violation Monday. Police noted the bag of candy fit the description of what had been stolen, and after a three-day investigation they arrested him on suspicion of burglarizing Costa Mesa High School, said police Sgt. Don Holford.

Police said Amos is not a student at the high school where vandals broke a plate-glass window with a water-main cover, then ransacked the school, stealing Gummi Bears, an undetermined amount of money and students’ cameras.

The Costa Mesa Police Department is continuing its investigation to determine whether Amos may be responsible for vandalism that occurred at other Newport-Mesa Unified School District campuses, Holford said. Amos is being held at Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bail. No other arrests have been made in the case.

Sixteen of Newport-Mesa’s 31 schools were targeted over the long Thanksgiving weekend and there was extensive damage.

Besides Costa Mesa High, three sites were hit hard, said Assistant Superintendent Michael Fine. They are: Davis 5th and 6th Grade Center, Newport Heights Elementary and a facility leased to Coastline Regional Occupational Program.

At Newport Heights Elementary, the vandals set off fire extinguishers, spilled orange-flavored syrup on the cafeteria floor and placed several stuffed animals in a microwave oven--blowing the stuffing throughout the room.

But there was one act the vandals committed in the Newport Heights kitchen that concerned Fine most.

“They turned on all the gas burners and blew out all of the pilot lights,” Fine said. “So what could’ve happened is that when you switched on the light . . . the whole place could’ve gone up.”

In a kindergarten classroom, the vandals dumped out change the children had been collecting in a water bottle, taking time to separate the pennies, which they left behind. They managed to get away with about $100 in change.

Fine said such extreme vandalism is not something that frequently occurs.

“Every weekend we get graffiti and the broken window,” he said. “Breaking into a room and stealing stuff, we see that occasionally--a couple times a year.”

And predictably, each year the schools fall victim to pranks played by seniors, including one at Newport Harbor High last June when students dumped more than a dozen bags of cow manure into the school’s swimming pool.

Cleaning up the mess made over the Thanksgiving weekend cost the district about $7,000, which included several plate-glass windows. The cleanup crew was finished by the time the school bell rang Monday.

“It’s unfortunate,” Fine said, “that we’re spending money on this. We’d rather be spending it in a classroom.”