Three vehicles were destroyed by fire and 20 others were vandalized early Sunday in Santa Cruz County's Aptos area where deputies recovered fire accelerant and a baseball bat used to damage the vehicles, according to the sheriff's office.
Deputies were dispatched at 5:30 a.m. Sunday to a vehicle fire on Townsend Drive in Aptos, located two cars on fire and a third one burning on Aptos Beach Drive, sheriff's Sgt. Kelly Kent said.
The deputies canvassed the area and soon found several more vehicles on Townsend, Cliff, Bonita and Seacliff drives with broken windows and dented hoods in a suspected vandalism spree, Kent said.
Several mailboxes had also been damaged in the neighborhood, according to deputies.
Detectives arrived at the scene and recovered gas cans and burnt flares used to light the fires and a baseball bat possibly used to smash the vehicles, Kent said.
Since the incident was reported Sunday, about 10 people living in the same area have contacted deputies to report that their vehicles had been vandalized as well, according to Kent.
The cost of the damage was estimated at $100,000, he said.
The sheriff's office is urging anyone with information about the suspects involved in the vandalism to contact sheriff's dispatch at (831) 471-1121 or sheriff's Sgt. Esther Beckman at (831) 454-2311.
