Harmless crime? Fort Mill police say no crime is too small amid egging spree

It isn’t the most serious crime in the book, but it isn’t going over easy with Fort Mill police, either.

In a five-hour stretch, more than a half dozen homes and vehicles were hit with eggs. Many were garden variety vandalism. Some caused damage that’s going to cost vehicle owners.

“I did see where there were several instances of that, which really is a rare occurrence here,” said Maj. Bryan Zachary with the Fort Mill Police Department. “It’s not unusual in certain areas to have that happen, or to have a certain amount of vandalism occur, but under the circumstances it is a rare occurrence here.”

The incidents started late Wednesday night. Reports came in through mid-afternoon Thursday. They centered in the Dobys Bridge Road area. Some reports listed only a dollar for damages. Some reached $100.

“Vechicles being egged and painted surfaces like that do suffer some damage as a result of that if it’s not taken off quickly or if it’s not found quickly,” Zachary said. “People do incur some financial loss.”

Some crimes like egging property, or past incidents where people poured dish soap into large fountains to make bubbles, may seem innocent.

But not for the people who have to shell out money to fix them. Dish soap in the Carolina Orchards fountain last month — it’s happened at least twice there — cost $500 and created mechanical issues. The egg spree did more than $200 in damage.

“They can cause considerable property damage sometimes,” Zachary said.

Such crimes also can lead to charges. Police tracked down the people responsible for the bubbles. They have leads on suspects in the eggings, too. Items were found at some of the scenes, from egg cartons to plastic wrap containers to, at one point, a receipt.

“It just happened that all those incidents happened in the same night, so obviously there’s reason to believe it’s the same person responsible for all of it,” Zachary said.

As of Friday morning, he didn’t have more information than what was in overnight police reports.

“It’s not uncommon during the summertime, especially when school’s out and teenagers are out a little bit later at night or whatever,” he said.

One resident on Friendfield Drive reported hearing eggs busting against vehicles just before 11 p.m. Wednesday, and told police he followed a silver Volkswagon Beetle down several streets before losing it. He told police three or four people were in the vehicle.

Another resident on Tyne Drive gave the same vehicle description.

The incidents occurred in Ardrey Acres, Friendfield, Massey, Riverchase and Spring Branch. A separate vehicle egging happened a week earlier in Stirling Heights, though that resident told police she believed she knew who was responsible.

Zachary said even if damage isn’t as severe or if eggings seem harmless, they aren’t, and residents seeing something unusual are encouraged to call police.

“There’s never any call that is not important to us,” he said.

This story was originally published July 26, 2017 at 7:04 AM with the headline "Harmless crime? Fort Mill police say no crime is too small amid egging spree."