Residents of a gated community in Orange County demanded action from authorities after they say it took too long for their homeowners association to clean up the messages of hate that were sprayed over a community sign.
Jermaine Griggs, who has been a resident at Coto de Caza since 2011, reached out to NBC4 after a racial slur and a slur against the LGBTQ community were spray-painted over two signs at the community's entrances.
"The 'Los' was crossed out and the N-word was placed there. And it immediately alarmed me, took me aback, saddened me," Griggs said Friday at a news conference where a group of residents gathered to express their frustrations that it took two days to remove the graffiti.
"I felt frustrated, enraged, embarrassed," he said.
The graffiti has been removed since. But not fast enough, Griggs said.
"If you leave you trash can out a day too late, you're gonna get a letter," he said.
Coto de Caza's homeowners association did not respond to NBC4's requests for comment.
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One resident claimed the association told her to "get over it" when she called about the graffiti.
"She also told me I was making a big deal about this," said Sonya Weaver-Johnson.
Another resident said because there are so many associations, the bureaucracy to get things done may have caused the delay.
"Trust me, it takes them a while to get things done, it has nothing to do with racial issues," said Mike Ameel. "There's no excuse for not getting it cleaned up as soon as possible, I'm just saying the subassociations work a little slowly sometimes."
The incidents have led to an investigation by the Orange County sheriff's department. They said the homeowners association reached out to them Friday.
"The bottom line is anyone who writes that type of language anywhere whether on someone's house or something in common areas is absolutely unacceptable and the sheriff's department believes that's unacceptable," said Lt. Mark Stichter. "We take reports and investigate all the time so we will be following up on that."
