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 .