Copycats Blamed in Park Hazards

Detectives said Friday that they don’t see a link connecting all five incidents of sharp objects placed at parks in south Orange County, saying most of the incidents were probably the work of copycats.

The announcement came the same day authorities found a letter with a nail punched through it at a Laguna Beach park.

The letter claimed responsibility for the incidents and threatened more of them.

A homeless man discovered the folded letter Friday morning at the Main Beach playground, where razors were found three weeks ago strategically placed around slides and swings.

Police found three photocopies of the letter elsewhere in the park.

They would not release the full letter but described it as “long and rambling.”

The writer “indicated in the letter [that] there’s a group, that there’s more than one person carrying out these activities,” said Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Jason Kravetz. He added that the writer used the words “I” and “we” interchangeably.

Police were analyzing the one-page, typed letter to determine if there is a way to trace it back to the author. The writer threatened to strike again but did not specify when or where that will occur.

But detectives doubt the authenticity of the letter.

The investigation so far has found that only two of the five attacks appear related--ones this month in Laguna Niguel and Mission Viejo. The rest, they believe, were done by different people. One incident in Santa Ana this week involved nails that officials said could have been left to harm people or simply discarded.

“We think it’s someone looking for attention,” said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

“Of course contents of the letter will be taken seriously and we’re thoroughly investigating,” he added.

“At this time, there’s nothing that allows us to confirm that there are any connections.”

After the letter was discovered, officers combed the sand and playground equipment at Main Beach with rakes and metal detectors before reopening it for public use. No other sharp objects were found.

But the episode left some park-goers concerned.

“We were getting ready to get in the sand, but a parent told me what’s been happening so I decided to [stay] out in the water,” said Emma Entwistle, 28, of Kansas, who was lying in the sun with her 4-year-old son, Hunter.

“I didn’t want to take chances.”