Another Case of Vigilantism in Maine

On the same day as the gunman was stopped before entering a church AA meeting to kill a RFSO there was another case of vigilantism. It wasn't all over the news and no pictures have been published, and the article doesn't even repeat the words used. The homeowner is obviously scared and upset. From what he tells the paper it isn't just the damage done it's that the words spray painted on his property identifies him as a Sex Offender. He has children and is active in their sports etc. He doesn't want his neighbors wondering. The other part of this story is obvious that though it is being reported on, they are trying to downplay it. The words were not printed, nor were there photos shown over and over for all to see. If it had been an ethnic group being targeted it would have gotten tons of press. Not a small article in a small online paper. This is a Hate crime and it deserves to be shown for what it is. Family members of Former Sex Offenders live in fear of their home or family being the target of vigilantes. RFSOs are today's outcasts and in the eyes of most it's ok to harass and torment them.

ME - Vandals target Scarborough home

View the article here

In this day and age, people need to get security cameras, to catch these people in the act, and prosecute them.

05/21/2009

By Al Edwards

SCARBOROUGH - When Ted Quinn woke up at his 213 Pleasant Hill Road home in Scarborough Tuesday morning, he noticed what he thought was frost on his kitchen window.

Quinn inspected the mark more closely and realized the spot on his window wasn’t from the cold. Someone had covered the outside of his home with white spray paint.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Quinn said Thursday. “I felt angry and violated.”

Either Monday night or early Tuesday morning, someone spray painted his home and garage with obscenities. His outdoor lighting, grill and patio were also sprayed, and his screen doors slashed, according to Scarborough police.

Quinn’s insurance company estimated the damage at about $25,000, he said.

It wasn’t the vandalism so much as the wording that bothers Quinn, who is a real estate agent for Ingalls Commercial Brokerage in South Portland.

“A big thing that really concerned me was the writing in three spots,” Quinn said. “I’ve lived here for a year and a half, my son’s 15, so I’ve coached baseball and basketball and a lot of my friends are Scarborough parents who know me. The problem is there are about 200 houses back here and this is prominently displayed. I had a conversation with one of my neighbors who said, ‘I bet a sex offender’s moved in and they are identifying him.’”

According to Scarborough’s sex offender registry, there is no person listed on the registry who lives on Pleasant Hill Road.

The family is still staying in the home, in which they have lived for a little more than a year.

Neighbors who know Quinn said they feel sorry for him and his family, but the wording has sparked curiosity, said Marjory Halacy of Flintlock Road just behind his house.

“That’s a hate crime, that’s the way I look at it,” she said. “It’s a terrible offense personally and also in the neighborhood. I’ve had 25, maybe 30 people who have stopped saying they were so concerned asking me, ‘who do we have living in the neighborhood?’ I just had to put my hands up and told them to please stop asking and not to go in that thought direction. It just reflects so badly on him as a person.”

Jan Strait, who lives up the road from Quinn on Tenney Road, said she was shocked at the level of hate.

“It looks like he was targeted specifically because they didn’t get anyone else,” she said. “I think it’s isolated. I think they thought they knew him and it was specifically for that person.”

That, Quinn said, is the most upsetting part of the vandalism.

“It is disturbing. I’m confident there is no one in my family that warranted this,” Quinn said. “To me, there’s so much, it looks like there is a lot of hate and a lot of anger in it. I’m confident that we didn’t create this much anger or create a situation for someone to do this. I really hope that whoever did it (will) accept responsibility for this. What was done is senseless.”

Scarborough police are investigating the vandalism. They do not have any leads at this time, but they said they believe the incident is isolated.

“My thought is it could be someone who knows him or his family, I don’t know," said Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse. "We don’t have any suspects at this time.”

Halacy said this is the first time in her 25 years of living in the neighborhood that she has seen this level of vandalism. However, she said, it’s not the first time problems have popped up in the area.

“I have had a lot of things stolen from my house here,” she said. “I had a 6-foot Nutcracker on my door, and that was ripped right off the door a couple of Christmases ago. I’ve had a flag and pole stolen off the side of the house, my Canadian Geese stolen and the hose on the side of my house had been cut at one time. I have dealt with a lot of problems.”