Over the past six months or so, Vic Solomon, owner of Vic’s Garage and Towing Service, has seen repeated vandalism and theft to vehicles and property at his University Avenue location in Morgantown. In an effort to find some relief, he said he is offering a reward to anyone with information that leads to catching the vandals.
Solomon and his son, also named Vic, said four or five vehicles parked on the property have had windshields or windows broken this past week alone, one of the most recent being a Cadillac that had just been returned from being repaired.
Both driver’s side windows as well as the rear windshield of the Cadillac were shattered sometime Sunday evening or early Monday morning and the Solomons said they found a large rock inside the back window that they assume was used to cause the damage.
Looking around the lot, several other vehicles could be seen with shattered parts of windshields and windows and Solomon said this isn’t the first time property around the garage has been vandalized, but the type of cars being vandalized is changing.
“A lot of times it was the older cars and I usually just take them to the junkyard, so I didn’t say too much,” Solomon said. “The older ones didn’t have very much in them, but the nicer cars, of course I have more money in them.”
The Solomons said one recent vehicle had $3,000-$4,000 worth of damage and a few others have been customer cars.
“And then people are stealing catalytic converters all the time,” Solomon said of another problem the garage is seeing more frequently.
“They know which cars to hit, too,” the younger Solomon said. “It’s always the Toyotas, they’ll hit one car and leave all the others around it alone – so they know what they are doing.”
Solomon said in the past he hasn’t always reported the vandalism and normally doesn’t try to make a big deal about it, but because it has been happening more often he did notify the Morgantown Police Department., However, he said they were told it would be difficult to make an arrest due to a lack of security cameras in the area.
The Solomons said they do not know for certain who is causing the problems or if it is even the same vandals every time, but that they are not the only ones in that area who have had problems recently.
Morgantown Communications Director Andrew Stacy said MPD officials were not available for comment Tuesday on whether MPD is looking into any recurring problems in that area, but added they will be following up with The Dominion Post with more information.
Solomon said he is willing to pay a $1,000 reward to anyone who can provide information that leads to an arrest.
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