Vandals hit three buildings in Eldorado

A vandal who scrawled graffiti and damaged windows in Eldorado the evening of July 24 left clues to his or her identity, but Santa Fe County detectives have yet to establish who goes by the letters “SNK.”

Workers arrived at Vista Grande Public Library July 25 to find the county-owned building marred with graffiti. A metal book-drop box also was damaged.

Next door, the Sam and Patty Adam Senior Center also was hit. The same initials — SNK — painted on the library appeared in several locations on and around the senior center.

The vandal or vandals used black, white, bright green and turquoise paint to write on several walls at the senior center, which opened in April after years of effort by local seniors to build the facility and raise funds for senior programs. In addition to the initials and several barely intelligible words, vandals stenciled about 30 ice cream-cone images around the building. On one corner of the senior center, the words “ice cream” were painted.

“Maybe they don’t like our ice-cream social,” said Vista Grande Library director Barbara Hagood.

The library each year hosts an ice-cream social and silent auction to raise money for the library, which is operated by a local nonprofit. Hagood said the stenciled graffiti resembled images from the library’s announcements. The event this year is scheduled for 1 p.m.Aug. 26 at the Eldorado Community Center.

At the front of the senior center, a vandal taunted seniors with a barely legible, poorly punctuated phrase — “Is this for real! Old people” — on a wall that also bore the letters “BES.”

“The senior center took a heavier hit from the graffiti, and I guess Brumby’s got the worst,” Hagood said.

At Brumby’s restaurant in the Village at Eldorado, vandals used rocks to break almost every window in the building. A gate leading to a trash bin was marred with letters that are becoming familiar to Eldorado vandalism sleuths — SNK.

Hagood said she previously saw the same letters after the library building was vandalized in September. Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano said the same letters found at all three locations Wednesday led detectives to suspect the crimes were related.

The sheriff said officers encourage parents to look at art scrawled by their children on notebooks and belongings to see if it matches graffiti found on walls in the community. Careful observation by parents can sometimes solve graffiti cases.

“If you see the same type of graffiti in your neighborhood for years, there’s a good chance that it’s the same suspect,” Solano said.

The markings found in Eldorado on Wednesday included a circle with three vertical lines located above the first letter of some words.

The stylized markings resemble images of crowns depicted in several law-enforcement publications that identify gang-related graffiti, though some guides say the symbols found outside major cities are often unrelated to urban gangs that first promoted the imagery.

Investigators are also looking into reports of a white Honda seen in the area around the time the buildings were vandalized, Solano said.

In New Mexico, graffiti or other vandalism that causes more than $1,000 in damage is a felony.

In addition to a possible prison sentence, fines or probation, a person convicted of felony graffiti vandalism can be required to perform 100 hours of community service and pay restitution to the property owner.

Hagood said county crews will clean up damage to the library and senior center, but that will be difficult because of the variety of surfaces damaged, including painted steel, cement blocks and stucco.

Santa Fe County spokesman Stephen Ulibarri said the vandalism caused about $500 damage to the library and senior center.

Contact David Collins at995-3893 or dcollins@sfnewmexican.com.