Nassau cops: Suspect scratches 30 vehicles on Massapequa street

July 31, 2015 by MAXWELL RADWIN AND NICOLE FULLER / lidesk@newsday.com

Nassau police said they are looking for the person who vandalized 30 vehicles on a Massapequa street early Wednesday.

The 30 cars were scratched along their sides and some had x's drawn onto their hoods by a person who was caught on a Cameo Drive resident's video surveillance about 2:45 a.m., police said.

The male suspect scratched vehicles owned by 17 people, said Insp. Kenneth Lack, a police spokesman.

"It looked like . . . [the suspect] did it as he walked along the driver's side of the vehicles," he said.

"We don't know what the motivation was," Lack said when asked about a possible reason for the vandalism.

Dawn Denicola, 47, who has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years, said she had four of her five cars damaged Wednesday. A scratch all the way down one side of her Ford Explorer led to an x carved into the hood.

"They gouged it," she said, adding that this kind of activity doesn't usually happen on her street.

Denicola said she expects it will cost several thousand dollars to have her cars sanded and repainted.

"It takes away your sense of security," she said. "What's their motive? Are they coming back?"

Frank Venezia, 47, had one car scratched down the driver's and passenger's sides and on the front. Another car was scratched down one side, with a chunk dug out.

Police released surveillance images of the suspect early Friday.

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