ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The search is on for a group of men caught on video vandalizing a St. Augustine neighborhood clubhouse overnight Monday.
Now, the homeowner's association says the neighborhood is left to clean up thousands of dollars in damage.
The Gran Lakes neighborhood pool is closed and should reopen Wednesday. However, other neighborhood amenities will be closed for much longer.
"They took a fire extinguisher off the wall and just sprayed it all over and now there's a layer of dust that we can't rent it community members can't use it and now we have to get someone out here that specializes in cleaning this chemical up," Gran Lake HOA President Paul Proios said.
A layer of dust caused by the fire extinguisher lined a room of the clubhouse, exit signs pulled from the wall, and the men's bathroom damaged.
"Three of the four toilets they were kicking in pretty hard, and they bent a lot of the pipes on there and there was water leaking all over, the water was shut off and we have to repair all three of these toilets that's probably where most of the damage will be," Proios said.
Gran Lakes HOA President Paul Proios says about 16 surveillance cameras around the building caught everything on video which is being reviewed by detectives. The Sheriff's Office confirmed the break-in happened between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. Monday, with a similar incident in the Trailmark neighborhood amenity center across the street around the same time that night.
"We think they were here for about 15 minutes. They drove in and hopped the fence, swam in the pool, found an unlocked door, and shot the fire extinguisher. They used it to destroy some other things, broke the mirror, vandalized the bathroom then ran out the front door," Proios said.
Proios says there is about $4,000 in damage, which comes out of the homeowner’s pockets.
"We believe it might be four young white males teens to probably early 20s They were all wearing different colored bathing suits. One was wearing a pink one, blue one, black one, all without shirts on the video footage. One had a very distinct hollow cross tattoo on his chest and it's pretty clear on the footage in the video," Proios said.
Aside from cameras, the neighborhood also has license plate readers. Proios says that information has also been turned over to the sheriff's office.
"The license plate readers have been great. We've caught a few different crimes with that it's deterred a lot. I think that's great. And we'll be looking to put some overnight alarms and some motion detectors here to make sure if this place is closed, that nobody's coming in. We didn't think we needed that with everything we have. But it's always going to stay one step ahead. So I think you just always have to be vigilant."
As of Tuesday night, no arrests have been made, the sheriff's office says it is an active investigation.
You can contact the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office non-emergency line at (904) 824-8304 if you have any information.