Newport-Mesa blade incidents seem unrelated
Deepa Bharath
NEWPORT-MESA -- Police say they do not believe razor blade discoveries
in South County parks are linked to similar incidents that shocked this
community last spring, but they aren’t entirely ruling out the
possibility.
Between March 23 and May 30, 2001, 13 incidents were reported in Costa
Mesa and Newport Beach parks and playgrounds. In most cases, razor blades
and sharp glass pieces were either planted on playground equipment or
buried in the sand.
The latest finding locally was reported in October, when razor blades
were found in Heller Park in Costa Mesa. Investigators said they did not
know if any of those incidents could be linked and that they believed
some could have been “copycats.”
The findings over the last two weeks in Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel
and Mission Viejo don’t appear to be connected to the Newport-Mesa
incidents, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman.
“We still patrol the parks and [city employees], we believe, still
inspect the parks,” he said. “It’s still a concern of ours.”
Shulman said officials have been relieved there have been no incidents
locally this time around.
“We haven’t had any problems of late, but it is very much an open case
that we’re still investigating,” he said.
Neither Newport Beach nor Costa Mesa police has made any arrests on
the case.
Costa Mesa police, in an attempt to get a better picture of the person
or people involved in the crime, sent information to an FBI profiler. But
even a profiler was not able to flesh out a helpful portrait because of
the varied nature of each of the incidents, officials said.
But the Costa Mesa cases are still being investigated, Chief Dave
Snowden said.
“We’ve no evidence or no way of knowing if the [recent] incidents were
related,” he said. “But we’re constantly vigilant and are open to the
possibility that they may be related.”
* 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 .
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