Man Suspected Of Slashing Tires At Auburn Senior Mobile Home Park

AUBURN (CBS13) - Tire after tire was either slashed or punctured, and people in one Auburn neighborhood say one man is responsible.

"Why, why does he want to do anything like that multiple times to many people? Why?" said Daniel James, whose tires were slashed.

Placer County sheriff's deputies knew about the crimes for more than a year, but couldn't catch the suspect. So a fed-up neighbor took matters into his own hands.

Neighbors in the mobile home park say it has been awful and cost them tens of thousands of dollars wondering who was vandalizing their cars. Now deputies say they know.

"The first time it was this tire and this tire right here," James.

James shows us the new tires he was forced to buy.

"I came out to get into the car and it wouldn't move," he said.

That was in November. It seemed Daniel had fallen victim to a prolific vandal who had been terrorizing the Woodside Village Senior Mobile Home Park in Auburn -- slashing dozens tires -- for upwards of 5 years.

"It had been a long, ongoing process and no one knew who it was. No evidence, no nothing," said.

"Seven times; two times with the new car," said resident Shay Saccomano.

Saccomano says over the past years she's spent thousands replacing tires on her cars.

"I knew it was somebody in this park, and I think they wanted to catch them before I did," she said.

James decided to install surveillance cameras after the first incident. Fast forward to this month; this time cameras caught the suspect walking by then doubling back and going in for the kill.

Deputies have identified the suspect as Ray Smith, a community resident.

"We have at least, as far as we can tell at this point, up to 15 different victims," said Sgt. Nelson Resedes, a spokesperson for the Placer County Sheriff's Department.

"Most of the neighbors said, I can't believe it's him. He's the nicest guy," said James.

"Well, I just want to know why he did it. What was his motive?" said Saccomano.

So far, Smith is charged with two counts of felony vandalism.

"We can't find anybody he's had any real problems with that this point, which makes it that much more puzzling," Sgt. Resendes.

We went to speak with Smith, who's out on bail, but there was no answer. However, we did find an eviction notice posted on the door.

"He got caught and that I'm glad about," said James.

According to that eviction notice, Smith has 60 days to leave the complex.

Deputies say they are poring over reports and asking any other victims to come forward.