Family fit to be tied as vandals keep on tagging work truck in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood

By Jermont Terry

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    CHICAGO, Illinois (WBBM) — A construction worker in Pilsen says vandalism is putting his livelihood at risk—as his work truck has now been targeted four different times.

When the rooster crows every morning on 18th Street between Oakley Avenue and Leavitt Street, Angel DeAlba’s father never knows what he’ll wake up to seeing scrawled on the truck.

“[He] sees all the paintings over here,” DeAlba said. “We’re like, what’s going on?” DeAlba said.

Since recently moving into Pilsen, the vandalism with graffiti keeps happening to the truck parked out front.

“As you can see, my dad painted out white—you can see in background—but they did it again, and these black lines are actually from last night,” said DeAlba, adding that the most recent vandalism Monday night makes for a total of four times.

The family’s home surveillance captured a crew walking down 18th Street overnight. The crew is seen going right up to the right van and beginning to tag it.

The family installed the cameras after the first graffiti incident, but the camera does not seem to be deterring the taggers.

“My dad has to repaint, and it costs money for him,” DeAlba said.

It is also costing the small business owner customers too—especially as DeAlba’s father pulls up for estimates with the van full of graffiti.

“He pulls up with the truck like painted like this, and sometimes, even some people said it, like: ‘What’s going on with your truck? Are you related to these guys, or what’s going on?'” DeAlba said. “My dad says, ‘No, when I woke up, it was just painted like that.'”

Meanwhile, graffiti on the truck is not the only problem. A few weeks back, someone actually tried getting into DeAlba’s father’s nearby work van—which is also parked on the block—by breaking the window.

That too was caught on video.

“And the neighbors have to hear us out,” DeAlba said. “We have do something about it—or at least identify these people.”

When the family calls police, because it is property damage, DeAlba said they are just told to file a complaint.

“It’s not fair,” he said.

As for people repeatedly tagging the truck, the family wants them to know this is not a game—and they simply want it to stop.

“I don’t know what this means who they are, but just be mindful,” DeAlba said.

DeAlba emphasized that people need to know his father’s truck is not just some abandoned vehicle.

“It is not,” DeAlba said. “It’s a work truck. It’s another tool for my dad to make money.”

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