Swirls of gold spray paint coated one side of Stephen Smith’s white Chevy truck Tuesday morning. It was vandalized overnight Monday.
“My jaw dropped because the whole side of my truck was covered," Smith says. "I was pretty upset, pretty upset I’ll tell you that."
Smith wasn't the only one; the vandal left their gold markings all along Haskins Drive in Suffolk. In all, three cars, three mail boxes, a speed limit sign and manhole cover were all tagged with gold spray paint.
"This is very upsetting because we work hard for what we have and for someone to come and destroy it, it's pretty upsetting," Smith says.
Smith says he was lucky; he was able to use paint thinner to clean his vehicle. He also took action to help his neighbors.
"I felt bad for the rest of the neighbors so I went down and helped get all the paint off their cars," he says.
You can hardly tell his truck was once tagged, but Smith is making sure if there's a next time the vandal will be caught on video.
"Because everyone wants to protect their valuable stuff," he says.
Smith installed three home surveillance cameras around his house.
He has a message for the criminal.
"I hope you get caught,” Smith says. “I really do. I hope you get caught and I hope you get what's coming to you."
If you have any information for police, you can take action against this crime and call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
