Article Courtesy of The Mimi Herald

By MICAELA HOOD

Published September 30, 2007 

When vandals scrawled profanities on the windshield of a Miami Beach condo resident's car, it raised questions for some of her neighbors: Was it a random criminal act, or was she a target?

On a recent Friday, Eliane Siegal parked her minivan in the garage of the Nine Island Avenue condominium on Belle Isle, the easternmost of the Venetian Islands.

The next morning, as she approached her vehicle, she saw vulgar words smeared across the windshield in chalk.

A car's windshield wiper also was broken.

The police report states Siegal parked her car in the garage around 5:30 p.m. Sept. 14. She called police at about 9 a.m. the next morning.

Around midnight, a security guard noticed the vandalized car and notified the building's manager, but Siegal was not notified immediately because of the late hour, said condo association president Gretchen Marshall.

Siegal would not comment.

The garage has a security camera, but it was not pointed at her car, according to a resident who parks nearby.

''It's unsettling,'' David Rosen said.

According to the police report, Siegal told officers that her husband sits on the board of the 274-unit building's association, and she suspects this could have triggered the vandalism.

One condo resident said the act was likely deliberate because access to the parking area is so restricted.

''They have raised concerns in meetings that money is missing,'' Adonis Maiquez said.

Marshall, who has served on the board for three years, said she's also been targeted by vandals.

''I've had people write stuff on my mailbox. It's the price you pay when you sit on the board,'' she said. "You're bound to make someone unhappy.''