Razors turn up again in Costa Mesa

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- Just when it seemed as if the devious hands that placed

razor blades on park slides and buried glass shards in sandboxes had

stopped their work, a nanny found three razor blades on slides once again

at a Costa Mesa park Monday, police said.

This time, the target was Heller Park in the 200 block of East 16th

Street. Similar razor blades had been found there on three previous

occurrences, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Don Holford.

Nobody was injured.

During the spring, there were 13 incidents of local parents or

baby-sitters finding sharp objects either on park equipment or in the

sand in several Newport-Mesa parks. The chilling discoveries were made

between March 23 and May 30.

Holford said the Police Department has been investigating the case

ever since. Detectives even sought the help of an FBI profiler to flesh

out the character traits of the person who might have committed the

crimes, he said.

“But the profiler was not able to pinpoint who might have been doing

this,” he said. “One of the things they told us was that this might have

been people who spend a lot of time in parks, like kids or homeless

people. But it was tough because we have quite a variety of different

people in our parks.”

Although officers were somewhat relieved after the incidents stopped

in May, they have been keeping a close watch, Holford said.

“Our officers patrol city parks, and we have our city parks employees

and park rangers also inspecting these areas,” he said.

Detectives investigating the case over the last five to six months

from both Costa Mesa and Newport Beach have struggled to come up with

possible suspects.

Police have said it could have been the same person or group of people

involved in all incidents or one incident could have led the way to other

copycat incidents.

“We just don’t know,” Holford said. “At this point, these are all just

assumptions.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .

BOX

DANGEROUS DISCOVERIES

PARKS DATE WHAT WAS FOUND

Marina Park March 23 Razor blades

Heller Park March 30 Razor blades

Heller Park April 1 Razor blades

Pinkley Park April 16 Razor blades

Heller Park April 17 Razor blades

Lions Park April 24 Razor blades

Bolsa Park April 25 Razor blades

Cliff Drive Park April 27 Glass shards

Buffalo Hills Park May 2 Glass shards

Buffalo Hills Park May 2 Glass shards

Muir Beach Circle Park May 22 Glass shards

Newport Harbor Lutheran Preschool May 29 Razor blades

Las Arenas Park May 30 Razor blades

Heller Park Sept. 2 Razor blades