School, community signs defaced in Wilmington, Braidwood, Coal City

Local police are working together to try to find the person or persons who vandalized the signs at Wilmington High School, Reed-Custer High School, GSW High School, and the Coal City sign outside of Coal City High School.

The Wilmington Police Department posted an alert regarding the vandalism to their Facebook page on March 17. According to that post, criminal defacement took place at Wilmington High School between 1:15 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. on Friday.

The damage in Wilmington was discovered on the electronic events sign at Kahler Road and Wildcat Drive, as well as a historic limestone engraved sign that is located on the high school campus.

According to reports, the person responsible for the damage wrote a derogatory statement on the sign.

Police Chief Adam Zink said similar instances were reported near Reed-Custer High School, Coal City High School, and Gardner-South Wilmington High School.

WPD posted a video still of a light colored pickup truck, believed to be involved in the incident.

Sgt. Tom Logan of the Coal City Police Department said the village welcome sign on the southeast corner of Division Street/Route 113 and Carbon Hill Road was vandalized with the F word written on the sign, as well as several images of male genitalia. Additionally, one of the letters in city was painted over.
Logan said the damage was discovered at 9:16 a.m. on Friday, March 17. Officers began checking for vandalism around the district’s schools and community properties when word came that damage had been discovered in the other towns.

The damaged sign in Coal City is located on the high school campus, northwest of the main parking lot.

Logan said he checked the school’s parking lot cameras, however due to the distance and location of the tennis courts there was nothing conclusive on the tape.

In Braidwood, a similar instance of vandalism was reported near Reed-Custer High School. The main digitial sign in front of the high school was vandalized with foul language, which was quickly addressed by grounds crews.

Braidwood Police Chief Todd Lyons said the BPD is actively investigating the incident, but so far do not have any leads. The local agencies are currently working together to determine who is responsible.

The graffiti was quickly removed from all the signage.

Anyone with information can contact the Wilmington Police Department at 815-476-2811 or the Braidwood Police Department at 815-458-2342.