Organ Mountains mural on Mesilla Park building defaced

MESILLA PARK, New Mexico -- Police arrived at ACE Granite early Thursday morning after a vibrant mural of the Organ Mountains painted on the building was vandalized, with the word "rapist" written across it.

Owner Philip Arellano expressed outraged over the defamation of his building.

"All we were trying to do was--- and our company was to put some smiles on people's faces," Arellano said.

Arellano indicated his frustrations as a business owner with the impact an allegation like this could affect him.

He said, "If I lose business, because of that connotation and that word. It's not just me. How about all the innocent employees? Or how about my innocent customers? It hurts everybody."

Arellano believing the vandalism was not targeted at him, but rather at the artist of the mural.

ABC-7 is not naming the artist of the mural, because he has not been charged with any crime related to sexual misconduct.

In a statement, the artist said, "We are all very sad for the unfortunate incident. The company is working to clean off the vandalism and any sort of accusations about the words written are false slander and absolutely have no legal backing. The police are investigating the people caught on video vandalizing the mural."

Arellano says he spent thousands of dollars on the vandalized artwork. Anyone with information about who could have done the damage is asked by authorities to call Las Cruces Police at 575-526-0795.