Since late July, there have been at least 24 stolen plaques in Mission Hills; including nine historic plaques (six Inspiration Heights 1909 plaques); community plaques (Grant Elementary School & Pioneer Playground); two individual designation plaques (Griswold and Florence Apt. Buildings along Washington Street) and at least ten individual historic designation plaques from private homes. There have been some leads as diligent neighbors keep watch in the wee hours of the morning, but no arrests to date. It is clear that this is not the work of mischievous teenagers, but a brazen effort by scavengers looking to sell the bronze plaques to unscrupulous recycling centers. Recycling centers in the US are not supposed to accept stolen goods, but across the border these thieves may have no trouble unloading their loot. An "emergency" meeting has been called by several neighborhood organizations for Wednesday, Sept. 14 from 6pm-8pm to discuss what the police are doing about this highly targeted crime wave and what we can do as a community to help stop the stripping of history from our neighborhood.That recycling center is outside of San Diego and the police in that jurisdiction have been notified. They already had an ongoing investigation of that recycle center for alleged illegal activity. This complaint will be added to their suspicious activities. It was reported that the criminals received between $20 and $22 for each plaque.
This criminal was working with two other men. The second man has been identified and police are searching for him to arrest. The identity of the third is still uncertain. Detail descriptions of the suspects were not released because the investigation is ongoing. The police have requested that the public remain on the alert for all suspicious presence and activity and to report such to the Western Division Police Department non-emergency number (911 only for a crime in progress): 531-2000. Detective Brenner is in charge of this investigation.
One plaque was recovered, but it is not from the Mission Hills Community. The charge against these men will be either Petty or Grand Theft, depending on the valuation of the stolen property that can be attributed to them.
Both our current and future City Council Representatives for Mission Hills were in attendance: Kevin Faulconer and Todd Gloria. They announced a request they have made that will come before the City Council to pay for the replacement of the plaques stolen from public locations. The Councilmen and the other attendees, thanked Officer Vasquez and the four other officers he brought with him: Lt. Kevin Mayer, Lt Mark Hanten, Act. Det. Mark Brenner and Officer David Whitfield. They were congratulated for their efforts on our behalf, and encouraged to keep up the good work.
REMINDER: Stay vigilant and report suspicious people or behavior. And always stay safe.
Thank you to Mission Hills Heritage for the update write-up!
