STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Authorities investigating a series of anti-LGBTQ+ postings at a bus stop in Bay Terrace have arrested a 48-year-old man.
Wolfgang Marasevic of the 3000 block of Hylan Boulevard in Oakwood was arrested on Wednesday and charged with misdemeanors, including criminal mischief and making graffiti, for two incidents this summer at the bus stop in the vicinity of Bay Terrace and Hylan Boulevard, according to the criminal complaint.
The arrest comes after the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office initiated an investigation following constituent complaints and Advance/SILive.com articles.
The complaint alleges that Marasevic attached a piece of tape with a written message on it onto the wall of the bus shelter on July 8 around 12:05 p.m. and again on Sept. 16 at about 1:30 p.m.
The shelter was damaged in the July incident because the tape could not be removed from the wall. The tape was removed from the wall after the September incident but the glue residue could not be eliminated, the compliant states.
While the complaint does not specify what the messages said, a law-enforcement source confirmed they were anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-immigrant in nature.
Police say they showed photos of the suspect captured from surveillance video footage gathered as part of their investigation.
“Oh, that’s me,” the criminal complaint quotes Marasevic as saying. “I didn’t know it was illegal.”
Marasevic pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He is due back in Criminal Court on Dec. 5, according to public records.
An attorney for the defendant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DISTRESSING MESSAGES AT BUS STOP
The Advance/SILive.com first began chronicling the disturbing messages at the bus stop in May, when a reader reported the findings.
A second reader came forward in June to report additional postings.
The criminal complaint filed against Marasevic does not include incidents before July.
The handwritten signs in the May and June incidents the Advance/SILive.com reported on were all similar in content, featuring biblical references alongside anti-LGBTQ+ messages.
One reader, who used the stop for his daily commute, began removing and destroying the signs, only to find a freshly written sign hanging up the following day. The reader removed nearly 40 such signs.
Marasevic does not face a hate-crime charge in connection with the postings because such an offense warrants the targeting of a specific individual or individuals with a crime based on the victim’s perceived race/religion/sexual orientation, according to a source.
Posting messages on a city-owned bus stop did not constitute a hate-crime charge.
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