32 Damaged Cars, $52,000 Worth of Damage

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by Morgan Fogarty
Bio | Email | Follow: @MorganFogarty by Photographer Chris Keimig

WAXHAW, N.C. - Heidi Sweeney's weekend got off to a rough start.  "When we came out, we were like holy cr...holy cow, look what happened! We thought it was just our house," she says.
 
Police say 32 cars in Waxhaw's Hunter Oaks neighborhood were damaged early Saturday morning.  Two of them were Sweeney's: one with the words "gay as (expletive)" scratched into it and one with just random marks.  The repairs will be expensive.  She says, "$2,300 for one and a little over $2,000 for the other."

The Union County Sheriff's office showed us all the incident reports they've taken on this string of vandalism.  Deputies call it random and senseless.  Neighbors say they think the vandals are a group of kids who live in the Hunter Oaks neighborhood.  They hope reward money encourages someone to start talking.

"We're offering a $500 reward from the HOA for the conviction of whoever did it," says Todd Haynes.  He is the president of the Hunter Oaks Home Owners Association.  Haynes says this rash of damage is especially frustrating because the neighborhood has been dealing with vandalism issues for the past year.  "Last year, we spent, as an HOA, which is our residents money being used for things that are unnecessary, about $12-15,000 in damages from kids in our neighborhood," he says.

Haynes is calling on neighborhood parents to step up and take a long hard look at their children.  So is Sweeney.  She says, "I would love to see the people punished and I know it's gonna be kids."

In addition to the $500 reward the HOA is offering, Union County Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward.  Call 704-283-5600.  You can remain anonymous.

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