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Reward To Find Vandals Who Defaced Veterans Memorial Raised To $30K

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A $10,000 reward was approved Tuesday, on top of $20,000 previously offered by county supervisors, in hopes of identifying whoever defaced a Venice veterans memorial on Memorial Day weekend.

The mural, which is dedicated to POWs and troops missing in action during the Vietnam War, was defaced the weekend before Memorial Day.

Vandals sprayed a thick sheen of silver paint over most of the 2,273 names of Vietnam veterans on the memorial, which is located on the side of a building at Metro's bus yard on Pacific Avenue near Sunset Court. Police believe the defacement happened on May 26, with officials finding out about it on May 27, according to council aides.

Painted in the early 1990s, the mural has a message at the top reading "You Are Not Forgotten" and bears the names of the soldiers counted as prisoners of war or missing in action in Vietnam.

City Councilman Mike Bonin, who proposed the city's $10,000 reward, has said getting rid of the defacement will not be easy because it is several decades old, has no protective anti-graffiti coating and the artist, Peter Stewart, is deceased.

Bonin said the Venice-based mural and arts nonprofit SPARC will determine the best way to save and restore the mural.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Transit Policing Division is leading the investigation. Any tips can be reported to the agency by calling the on-duty watch commander at (323) 563-5000 or (888) 950-7233, or by calling Bonin's office at (310) 575-8461.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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