FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Several residents who live off Wedington Drive in Fayetteville are cleaning up after vandals tagged their homes with graffiti.

Rebecca Miller’s house on Yale Street was one of the homes that were tagged.

“My husband left for work and closed the garage and saw that our garage had been tagged,” Miller said.

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She says the graffiti is annoying and it would be expensive to paint.

“I know that seems kind of silly, but after having just gotten our house painted this past fall, it’s pretty annoying to have to repaint,” Miller said.

She says she has a Blink doorbell camera in her backyard and heard it ping around 2 a.m. on Tuesday but didn’t think much of it.

“In the morning, we looked at it and saw there was video footage of two kids in our backyard playing with our skeleton that I keep in the backyard as a scarecrow,” Miller said.

She says they took the skeleton and placed it in front of her foster son’s bedroom window.

“That kind of made me a little bit nervous. Like, what were they looking in there for?” Miller said.

While some may call this vandalism, Sgt. Stephen Mauk with the Fayetteville Police Department, says the Arkansas criminal code refers to this as criminal mischief.

“Any time somebody purposefully or recklessly damages the property of someone else,” Mauk said.

Miller’s property wasn’t the only one that got hit.

Mauk says multiple homes near Bryce Davis Park were also vandalized.

“They’re close to the location where all the other incidents occurred,” Mauk said.

The people who vandalized those properties have not been identified yet.

Mauk says the consequences depend on the value of the property damaged and the judge or jury’s decision.

“If it’s under $1,000, that would be classified as a misdemeanor offense in which you would be looking at the whole host of charges that are appropriate for misdemeanor offense. That would be up to a year imprisonment,” Mauk said. “If it’s over $1,000, that would be considered a felony. Now, depending on the value above that, it would determine which class of felony it would be.”

Miller says she doesn’t want the kids to have a criminal record but hopes there are some consequences.

“So they don’t get in more trouble. Also breaking into backyards is pretty dangerous. You never know who’s carrying a gun or has violent dogs. I wouldn’t want the kids to get hurt,” Miller said.

She says having them pay her back would be complicated.

“Because then the parents might be the ones that are paying us back and the kids don’t suffer any consequences. I would like to have them come and clean it up and repaint it,” Miller said.

Mauk says vandalism is a recurring crime in Fayetteville.

But in 2022-23, there was a 25% drop in vandalism.

“So that’s good. We’re going in the right direction,” Mauk said.

He says surveillance systems like ring doorbells have helped them investigate these crimes.

“If you have the ability to install a surveillance system on your home, that’s great,” Mauk said.

Ultimately, it’s an experience the Miller family won’t forget.

“Watching them creep through the backyard and looking at all of our windows is pretty violating,” Miller said.

Mauk says when people commit these types of crimes, they may also commit others such as entering your vehicle or stealing your property as well.

“Lock your doors to your vehicle. Don’t leave property out in view, that’s a value. Take your keys with you,” Mauk said.

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