Student Held as Gas-Pedal Bandit

A 21-year-old Granada Hills man was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of vandalizing and stealing from more than 30 cars owned by women students at two San Fernando Valley colleges.

The suspect has admitted at least half the incidents, in which gas pedals were stolen from cars at Pierce College and California State University, Northridge.

Clayton Perlman, a first-year student at Pierce College, was arrested by campus police at CSUN at about 1 a.m. after a student security guard reported seeing him vandalizing the engine of a car in a student parking lot near the southwest corner of the campus, CSUN Police Chief Stan Friedman said.

The car had been disabled Tuesday evening by someone who ripped out wires under the dashboard, Friedman said. It had also been vandalized once before, he said.

CSUN police received reports of three other cases of vandalism of cars Tuesday night and two Monday night.

Corn Oil Spread on Seat

In one case Tuesday, a two-gallon bottle of corn oil had been emptied on the front seat and the car’s tires were punctured, Friedman said. The woman who owns the car said a man fitting Perlman’s description had followed her in his car, Friedman said.

Perlman admitted at least 15 of the incidents, which have frightened co-eds and perplexed police at the two campuses since Sept. 12, Friedman said.

The motive remained a mystery. Asked why he vandalized the cars, Perlman replied, “I don’t know,” Friedman said.

Perlman, who Friedman said has no known criminal record, was jailed at the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station on suspicion of burglary from a motor vehicle. He was later freed on $2,500 bail.

A neighbor who said her son is a friend of Perlman’s described the suspect as a “very nice, well-mannered young man . . . the nicest kid I’ve ever known.”

According to Friedman, Perlman apparently would pick out an attractive young woman and follow her to her car. He would park his vehicle nearby, break into the woman’s car, slash the wires under the dashboard and steal the gas pedal.

In a few cases, the vandal slashed shoes and personal items. He ignored stereos and other expensive property and is not known to have harmed anyone, authorities said.

Many of the vandal’s targets were blondes driving General Motors vehicles, according to officers at Pierce College, where Capt. Joe Holts said there had been 24 such incidents, the most recent on Feb. 26. CSUN police report about 10 cases.

In one eight-week period, police reported a break-in a week.