DOTHAN, Ala. (WDHN) — Dothan Police are searching for multiple suspects after they were caught on video vandalizing the Alfred Saliba Family Services Center, which is closed now indefinitely as a result.
Alfred Saliba Family Services (also known as the Saliba Center for Families) was vandalized on Sunday afternoon and now the staff is picking up the pieces.
Broken windows, emptied extinguishers, turned over computers and tables, and trash was found littered around the center after people broke in on Mother’s Day.
“I come through and the next thing I know I am calling the cops,” Alfred Saliba Family Services Center Site Manager, Debbie Geiger said. “We noticed that every room on site got hit. They busted through the glass on the doors, got in, and just had a heyday vandalizing everything.”
The center had to close Monday to the public but it may take them a few days to clean everything up and assess the damages.
“Because we had to close, they all missed class, and right now we are closed until further notice. So, we are not really sure how long it’s going to take to secure everything and clean everything,” Geiger said. “So it may take a while. So, people that had to take GED classes will not be able to take classes here.”
The family services center offers GED classes for the community and also has partnered with Wallace Community College to hold several classes. On Monday, those classes had to be canceled.
The family services center is a full-service non-profit social agency offering prevention and intervention resources that strengthen families and help them help themselves.
Geiger says in the seven years she has worked here, they have never had anything like this happen at the center.
This case is currently under investigation by the Dothan Police Department and Geiger says the Alfred Saliba Family Services Center has surveillance cameras that caught the suspect’s antics on tape.
“And it occurred on Mother’s Day about 3 or 4 p.m.,” Geiger said. “So anyone that has any information if you could contact the Dothan Police Department.”
Geiger tells WDHN that they believe the suspects in this crime are in their late teens to early twenties.