Vandals spray paint swastikas, obscenities on Hope Mills businesses, vehicles

HOPE MILLS, N.C. (WTVD) -- Vandals targeted more than a dozen Hope Mills businesses, vehicles and communities by spray painting swastikas and other obscenities throughout the town over the course of two weeks.

The damage is done, but the hateful rhetoric remains.

Paul Abdolvand III, 18, along with a minor went on a crime spree that totaled about $20,000 in damage.

Marci Mang's bakery on Trade Street was spared, but Luis Irizarry's parked school bus was not.

"I was walking over the bank and it was all over the windows and inside," said Irizarry.

An ABC11 viewer sent pictures of obscene words spraypainted on the side of the Millstone Theatre, a fence and stop sign in a residential area.

Hope Mills Police continue to investigate the vandalism and believe there could be more victims out there. Meanwhile, business owners like Mang are standing against hate.

"People are really hustling. It's a small business district. To know that someone just vandalized all these things... the cost and time it'll take to repair is sad," said Mang. "Being a military town we have such a diverse clientele here, there's no room for that here. It's 2020."

Anyone with information on the spray-painting incidents is asked to contact the Hope Mills Police Department at (910) 425-4103.