Vandals on a graffiti spree left a mess and thousands of dollars of damage in a San Jose neighborhood Sunday night.
Monday, city crews joined business owners in a massive cleanup effort along the three-mile stretch of East Santa Clara Street and Alum Rock Avenue.
The roof on top of Jenny San's restaurant at Alum Rock and King was one of the hardest hit. She's worried the graffiti will scare away business.
"It looks so ugly," she said.
Because penalties have been strengthened, police say possible jail time awaits whoever did this, and it appears to be more than one person or group. Before painting over graffiti, officers and crews photographed the tags, which will go on file. The special anti-graffiti unit of the police department is just as aggressive as the taggers, prosecuting an average of one case a day in San Jose.
Unlike many other crimes, taggers make it convenient for police to prosecute them since the tags are in fact, the vandal's calling card.