Seniors upset about raids by vandals in Oroville

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LaVerne Donato shows the smashed windshield of her car on Monday at the Winston Garden senior apartments in Oroville. (Mary Weston/Staff Photo)

LaVerne Donato, 71, said somebody smashed the windshield on her minivan and the windows on several other vehicles.

Monday, a man walking down the street said the vandals had smashed the windows on a friend's car down the street.

Other residents had items stolen off of their porches.

Donato said it's an ongoing problem that starts in the spring and continues through the year, with people driving in pickups and loading up the senior's plants and yard decorations and vandalizing their cars.

She said there are known gang residences on a street north of the apartments and at a large apartment complex to the south of the senior housing.

"They are at war with each other, and we are in the middle of it," she said.

She said the gang members from both sides run through the apartment complex and jump over the fence to get to each other. They also congregate in Play Town USA Park on Fifth Avenue.

Her car has been vandalized three times in the last year, and residents have had many items stolen from their yards, she said.

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Seniors upset about raids by vandals in Oroville