After a group of vandals went to town at Gavilan College – stealing hundreds of dollars in supplies; marking up the campus with the tags “OSK,” “OS” and “LOST” – the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department is following up on leads and investigating the incident.
The vandalism/theft took place between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Wednesday night at Gavilan, which is located at 5055 Santa Teresa Blvd.
According to Gavilan’s security staff and campus spokeswoman Jan Bernstein-Chargin, a group of suspects entered the school’s EOPS Building (Extended Opportunities, Programs and Services) and stole 90 iPods; 35 MP3 players; $500 in Target gifts cards that are used as incentive for students; and several other gift cards that are given to commuter students who struggle to pay for gas.
“It’s sad,” said Bernstein-Chargin. “These are materials and resources that we use to help our students.”
In addition to theft, the vandals also wreaked senseless havoc on the EOPS building; spraying all the desks with pepper spray and creating a massive paper mess. Campus security believes the assailants likely broke in through a door.
The taggers covered extensive ground all over campus, marking up information kiosks, electrical boxes, fences, windows, walls and one of the main entryways.
Most of the graffiti was cleaned up by Thursday, except for tags on the outer wall near the campus’s northern entrance. Bernstein-Chargin said the maintenance crew will have to use a sandblaster to clear the eyesore away.
She gave due credit and praise to the school’s maintenance team, which hustled Thursday to clean up the mess.
