Report: ‘KKK’ and swastika found painted on mailboxes, stop sign | Crime

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a series of mailbox vandalisms in the Platt Springs area.

Deputies say the vandalism was first reported last Wednesday morning on Platt Springs Road near the Pelion airport. The homeowner found "KKK" letters painted red on his mailbox.

Along that road, at least 10 other mailboxes were vandalized. Even a stop sign had a swastika spray-painted on it. Many residents think it's a teenage prank but they're tired of it and want it to stop.

"The neighbor next to me and the one across the road had their mailbox knocked off they took a baseball bat to it and swung at them and knocked them down," neighbor Mary Strawderman said.

Strawderman says that incident happened about a year ago. Just last week, she and her daughter had to clean off lipstick and spray paint from their mailbox.

"It was two bad words wrote on it and also noticed as I was going out several other neighbors' mailboxes had paint on them," Strawderman said.

Jerry Lucas and other neighbors believe they have a good idea who is behind all this vandalism.

"It's teenagers with nothing else to do," Lucas said. "We've chased them off, tried to catch them, but they go in the woods."

The graffiti seems random, but the sheriff's department is not ruling out a hate crime for certain properties.