ST. GEORGE — Playground equipment was vandalized in LaVerkin’s Vintage Park over the holiday weekend and police are investigating.
The slides and other playground equipment in the center of the park at 660 North 300 West were marked by graffiti with misspelled solicitations to “call if your a boy” as well as food residue smeared on slides.
Nick Nuccitelli, LaVerkin chief of police, said the style of the tagging and other factors indicate the vandalism was the work of young children.
“This is not graffiti like you would commonly see involving gangs or tagging,” Nuccitelli told St. George News. “This is a juvenile issue involving very young children.”
Nuccitelli said the vandalism appeared sometime between Friday and early Monday and described it as an “unusual” and not a common incident at the park.
“Because school is out, we are trying to coordinate with parents to obtain the necessary information,” he said.
LaVerkin resident Brandy Arturo told St. George News she came upon the graffiti and vandalism when she went to the park with her children on New Year’s Day.
She later posted pictures of the vandalism on social media.
“If we could please have a conversation with our children over respect and common decency,” Arturo said in a Facebook post.
By Tuesday, the playground was clean of any of the damage.
“The city was able to clean it up with some elbow grease and cleaner,” Nuccitelli said.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.