Three 15-year-old boys have been arrested for 48 counts of criminal damage to property for slashing tires on 48 vehicles throughout Arkansas City early Saturday morning.
The initial break in the case occurred when one of the suspects tried to blame a fourth teen who had nothing to do with the case by spreading rumors at the high school, Police Chief Sean Wallace said.
The police department’s student resource officer picked up on the rumors and passed them on to investigators. All three suspects eventually admitted they were involved in the vandalism.
Their names have not been released.
“The juvenile males stated that they left the house at approximately 1 a.m. and took with them knives from the kitchen of the house,” Wallace said. “The males stated at first they were just getting the cars of people they did not like but then it turned into getting every other car, then every car.”
The boys said they returned to their house at approximately 4 a.m. Following their arrests, police tried to get the teens into a juvenile facility but were denied placement. The youths were released to their parents.
Through the course of the interviews, the three admitted to other unsolved vandalism involving painting cars. Investigators are following up on the cases.
