Tuesday, April 24, 2001

By Keith Boydston, Naples bureau

NAPLES, Italy — Italian car dealer Patrick Riccio shook his head in disbelief as he eyed a dozen vandalized automobiles. His vehicles, and those of another dealer, were trashed while parked inside the gates of a Naples Navy base recreational park.

"For me, it’s very sad," Riccio said, picking up the remains of a shattered side mirror that once belonged on a sporty 1996 164 Super Alfa Romeo. "This park is part of the [Navy] base. I never would have believed that someone could touch these cars in here."

Riccio owns and operates a small used-car business in the Naples area. He and another local dealer were invited by the park’s director to showcase their vehicles at a flea market over the weekend at Carney Park.

"We’ve never had this problem here, ever," said Mark Halsey, the director of the park. "You have to wonder, ‘Why do people do things like this?’"

Halsey discovered the damaged cars early Saturday just before the flea market opened.

The dealers staged their cars in the park Friday evening. Riccio brought in five cars, and Patrick Warner supplied nine cars from his brother-in-law’s lot — plus one that belonged to Warner’s sister.

"We’ve never had this problem before," Warner said, adding that he had supplied cars for previous flea markets. "That’s why I brought the cars in here early — this is supposed to be a secure place."

In the hours between Friday evening and early Saturday morning, vandals went to work on the cars. They broke off and bent windshield wiper arms, ripped off gas cap covers, destroyed side mirrors, and busted signal lights. In all, 12 cars were left pillaged — all five of Riccio’s and seven of Warner’s.

While Riccio and Warner couldn’t put a dollar figure on the damages, both estimated that it could set them back several thousand dollars.

Warner plans to file a report with the Navy base legal office on behalf of his brother-in-law.

"We’re hoping that the Navy is going to cover these damages," Warner said. "Somebody’s gonna have to pay for it. Hopefully it’s not going to come out of my brother-in-law’s pocket."

Riccio said that he has no plans to file with the base legal office or to ask the Navy to spring for damages.

"The people that had their cars vandalized [over the weekend] are entitled to submit a claim through the base Naval legal services office," said Lt. Fred Kuebler, a Navy base spokesman. "It’ll go through the claims process and be assessed."

"It’s unfortunate that something like this can happen on base facilities," Kuebler said. "We take for granted that on base our property is safe, but that’s not always the case. We all need to watch for suspicious activity — and report it when we see it."

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