Feb. 2, 2010 — Thanks to coordinated efforts from the community and the Susanville Police Department, three teenagers suspected in a city-wide vandalism spree may soon face justice.   

On Jan. 25, SPD officers arrested three teenagers, including two 16-year-olds from Susanville and one 17-year-old from the Litchfield area, all on suspicion of being involved in a string of vandalisms from mid-to- late December of last year. The SPD said the names of the teenagers are being withheld due to their age. Sources indicate that all three teenagers were Lassen High School students.

The spree, which lasted from about Dec. 19 to Dec. 28, involved 26 separate incidents of vehicle vandalism, from smashed windows to slashed tires.   

On Dec. 22, the SPD issued a press release asking for help from the public to solve the case.    

According to a new press release issued on Jan. 26, “based upon the resulting media coverage, the department received valuable information which ultimately resulted in the arrest of three juveniles allegedly responsible for these crimes.”  

Police captain Tom Downing, whose own vehicle was hit as part of the vandalism spree, said the next step will be for the court system to decide whether the teenagers are guilty or not and whether they will be liable to pay restitution damages to the victims of the vandalized vehicles.  

“They’ll go through the juvenile court process,” Downing said, “And if the judge finds them guilty, he can then determine whether they are liable for the damages caused to all the vehicles they allegedly vandalized.”   

The juveniles were booked into the Lassen County Juvenile Hall for vandalism charges, and are being held pending a detention hearing.   

Police Jeff Atkinson said it was a total effort of the community, the leads the department followed and good investigative practices.  

“This case is a good example of community involvement and solid police work coming together to solve a problem,” Atkinson said. “With the information received and the hard work of Detective (Richard) Warner, we have a resolution to a large number of cases. We are thankful for the support of the community and their willingness to assist us with information.”