Frankford spray paint vandals damage cars, home

FRANKFORD - February 25, 2013 (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police are working to track down the vandal who spray painted nearly a dozen cars in the city's Frankford section overnight.

Residents are angry and frustrated.

"It's crazy," said resident Tia Walker. "You come out, you don't know what you gonna find in the morning. You might come out, might find a dead body sitting right here. Don't nobody know and don't nobody care. It's just crazy."

Residents of the Whitehall Apartments say this is a continuous problem. They've had their windows smashed. They've had items stolen from their vehicles.

And now this.

"Stupid. Like people don't have nothing else more to do with their time, spray paint people's cars. And that's real expensive. Like, really crazy," explained frustrated resident John Winchester.

The vandal not only damaged nine vehicles, the wall of one of the houses was spray painted with the words "Free Poppy."

"Her door back here got 'Free Poppy' on it. Whoever Poppy is, he need to be in jail," said Tia Walker.

Residents say they've been complaining to the manager of the complex for months about the lack of security. They say the light above the parking lot has been burned out for a year.

Action News tried to ask the manager about it, but he would not comment, referring us to the company's executive office.

Residents say things have gotten so bad that they are afraid to walk to their cars after dark. Some don't even let their children play outside.

Hopefully the police will be able to track down the vandals. Whoever did it left behind some tell tale evidence.

We left a message with management at the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

They haven't called back, but a short time after our call, a work crew showed up to fix the lights.

The lights are now fixed and ready for the dark of night, but the work repair crew says it's a losing battle with drug dealers shooting out the lights almost as quickly as they're fixed.

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frankford, philadelphia, vandalism, local/state

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