FITCHBURG -- Caleb McGill, 18, admits he spray-painted graffiti at the Ryan C. Joubert Memorial Skate Park last week but said he was just a small ripple in a much bigger wave of vandalism.
Police interviewed McGill, of 95 Payson St., Apt. 1, and charged the teen with "tagging," a felony involving the use of paint or markers, which can carry up to a three-year prison sentence and mandatory loss of driver's license.
McGill told the Sentinel & Enterprise on Tuesday he used yellow spray-paint to scribble odes to his favorite band, Insane Clown Posse, but denied involvement in further vandalism that destroyed a park bench and gate at the skate park.
"I'm just an artist, you know. I thought what the (other) kid was doing was making the park ugly," McGill said. "At least the band name looks good. It's not gang-related."
"He started to go off in a defensive mode, and I simply presented him with the facts we had," said police Detective James Raymond, who spoke with McGill at the police station Tuesday.
"He said he did some of the tagging, but he didn't do all of it," Raymond said. "He said he did the yellow spray-painting but not the rest."
Volunteers raised more than $100,000 to build the park in the memory of 16-year-old Ryan Joubert, who sketched a blueprint of a skate park before he died in a November 2000 car crash.
"I only did one little thing there," said McGill, wearing khakis and a T-shirt depicting the band Incubus outside his home Tuesday afternoon.
He said he enjoys the skate park and knows of Joubert, who was a couple grades above him at Fitchburg High School. McGill is unemployed and no longer attends school.
Raymond said there were two waves of vandalism at the park last week. One was reported March 23 and one on March 25.
Raymond believes McGill was involved in the second wave. McGill said there already was orange and other colors of graffiti on the cement ramps and bowls of the park when he began painting them.
He told police he found his orange- and yellow-colored paint in a trash can, but only used the yellow paint, Raymond said.
"I don't have any respect for gangs," McGill said.
Raymond said some red-painted tags from the first wave depicted crowns and other symbols of the Latin Kings gang.
"We've heard rumors that they might be starting up again," Raymond said.
Another dark-colored tag, which says "chaotek," is the same mark etched on the walls of the new Arthur DiTommaso Bridge earlier this year.
"We want to put a stop to this tagging," Raymond said.
The detective said McGill tried to "buffalo" police until Raymond presented a list of evidence against him, but said there are other people who are involved in the vandalism spree.
"The yellow doesn't appear to be anything like the orange (paint)," Raymond said.
He said the case is still under investigation and police have not yet charged any suspects with the costly structural vandalism to the bench and other parts of the park.
"I'm pleased they found somebody, but I still want to know why," said Patricia Joubert, Ryan's mother. "It still bothers me that this happened."
She said although the city Department of Public Works removed the graffiti Friday, there are still several expensive repairs to be done.
"We have to replace the (utility) pole protector and the bench," said Joubert, adding the park's sign must also be replaced.
"That was the most upsetting, to have the sign knocked down," she said.
Joubert also said the skating bowl must be resealed now that cleaning is complete. Local businesses, including Unitil and A. Gale Landscaping, have already offered to help with repairs, she said.
Patricia Joubert said the park might install security cameras in the future.
"It's not just to prevent damage, but also injury (to kids)."
Staff reporter Rebecca Deusser contributed to this report.