LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Henderson veteran Larry Utter is stunned over what’s been happening to his home.
He says a vandal has attacked his home with paint and feces. He says the culprit has been putting put paint and feces in bags and then throwing them at his home.
“I’d say, why? What is the reasoning behind all of this? Why were you doing this? What was the reason for it? I just can’t figure that out,” said Utter.
Utter says it first happened around the end of 2023 and has happened several more times since then.
“Sixteen times they’ve vandalized this house,” said Utter.
Utter believes the same person is responsible. Utter says he’s spent more than $2,000 repairing his roof. He says the suspect threw large rocks onto it. He says he spent another $2,000 on security cameras.
Because the vandalism has happened so many times, Utter stopped cleaning up the paint from his home.
“My neighbors asked me, when are you going to do it? And I says, I’m not going to do it because there’s no sense in doing if it’s going to happened again,” said Utter.
Utter says Henderson Police have been great in taking numerous reports and quickly responding to his home when the vandalism happens. But Henderson police have done much more than investigate. On July 9, several officers visited Utter’s home during their regular shift and cleaned up his property. They posted the cleanup on the Henderson Police Facebook page. They removed paint from all over the house and repainted much of the home.
“I believe that the officers of HPD are deeply committed to serving and protecting our community. And when we found out about the acts of vandalism that were happening to Larry, it was evident to us to provide support and reassurance,” said Henderson Police Sergeant Caryn Deitch.
Utter is an Air Force veteran. He was at Nellis Air Force Base during the Vietnam War. He worked with generators that checked hydraulics of some aircraft that ended up in Vietnam.
“As a Marine, and he’s Air Force, I don’t think that brotherhood every leaves you. So, you always want to take care of one another,” said Henderson Police officer Omar Sanchez.
Officer Sanchez served in Afghanistan and came up with the idea to help Utter. For Sanchez and HPD, the cleanup was a successful mission of teamwork and helping the community it serves. When they left Utter’s home on July 9, the home looked brand new and hasn’t been vandalized since.
Utter had a message for officers who met FOX5 at the home on Thursday.
“Thank you very much. I appreciate everything you’ve done. And you’ve done a great job because every time I’ve called you guys have shown up and done everything you could do. I know that you’re looking for this guy. And I I appreciate it,” said Utter.
Henderson Police haven’t said much about the case since it’s an open investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact Henderson Police.
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