Police Identify Vandalism Suspects

Police said they have identified two teenagers suspected of causing an estimated $30,000 in damage to a Pacoima elementary school that has recently suffered a series of break-ins.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan voiced outrage Thursday over the vandalism and plans to visit the school today to survey the damage and praise a local company for stepping in to repair the classrooms.

Students and teachers at Montague Charter Academy arrived on campus Thursday to discover extensive vandalism in 11 classrooms, including the destruction of a piano, five computers and a VCR used for special education classes.

Los Angeles School Police Det. Levi Patterson said that he recovered from one Pacoima boy’s bedroom hundreds of markers, a Montague bag and a portable stereo owned by the school and that graffiti in the classrooms matched scribbles in the 14-year-old’s room.

The boy’s parents are expected to turn him in to police today, Patterson said. Police were seeking a second suspect who attends the same middle school, he added.

Montague has been broken into several times in recent months, Patterson said, but added he does not know whether the suspects in Wednesday night’s incident were responsible for previous break-ins.

Riordan called the vandalism at Montague “an atrocious crime.”

“I am deeply saddened that anyone would be capable of destroying a school and keeping children from getting the education they deserve,” he said.

The mayor praised SunQuest Development Corp., a company building on one of the city’s Genesis L.A. economic development sites, for offering to repair the classrooms and provide new computers and a VCR. The firm, which is building a business park three blocks from Montague, has agreed to adopt the 1,056-student school as part of the mayor’s Literacy Corps program. It has also promised to provide much-needed air conditioning at the campus.

Montague Principal Diane Pritchard also praised the company.

“They came right in and worked side by side with our teachers and parents,” Pritchard said. “With such tremendous community support, we are now ready to open the school for class” today.