MURRAY, Utah, Nov. 5, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Police are looking for the person or people who vandalized a Murray auto dealership sometime between 9:30 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
Employees at Central Auto, 4545 S. Main St., came to work Saturday morning to find that about 32 vehicles on the lot had been damaged overnight.
On Saturday afternoon, Murray Police Sgt. Marvin Barlow said detectives have received some leads and are investigating the case. He said no other dealerships in the area were vandalized overnight.
Damage is estimated between $50,000 and $75,000, according to Mike Bartz, director of operations for the dealership.
Bartz said it wasn’t immediately known whether one or more vandals were involved, but the damage was quite extensive.
“They didn’t just put one mark on the doors. It wasn’t just someone walking along keying the cars,” he said. “The damage was all over the tailgate or door, even down to the metal.”
Bartz said that, although a window was broken out of a van parked on the property last week, this sort of vandalism isn’t common to the area. Like most car dealerships, the outer perimeter of the lot is accessible from the sidewalk, and that’s where most of the vandalism took place, “as if someone just walked in-between the cars, scratching the doors and tailgates.”
“We’ve had supportive calls from people in the neighborhood,” Bartz said.
Central Auto is increasing surveillance on the premises, Bartz said, and Murray police officers are going to patrol the area more frequently. Security personnel from other businesses also will be watching closely for any unusual activity.
Anyone who has information that may help in this investigation is asked to call Murray Police Department, 801-840-4000.
