NYS Property Defaced By Graffiti, Artist Truly Thinks He Did Nothing Wrong

Not a great idea for one New York man to leave his social media handle on the graffiti. He thought he was creating art. Well, karma struck in the most unbelievable way possible.

When something is tagged with graffiti, some may consider it art, in this case, it is pure vandalism. The person who decided to do this obviously had no idea the amount of backlash they would receive for this, including what the law would do. After all, this beautiful log lean-to in the Catskills is sitting on New York State Land.

According to the Times Union, one hiker on Hunter Mountain had noticed the graffiti about a week or so ago and posted what she found on social media. Then, a popular page called ADKFunPolice picked up the picture and people created a firestorm in the comments from insults, to threats toward the artist who defaced this lean-to. That is a 39-year-old man from Brooklyn.

The "artist' did actually attempt to resolve the situation, he headed back up Hunter Mountain to remove the graffiti after the backlash.

So, I came back to the lean-to, to remove the graffiti that apparently noone liked. I've come to realize a lot of things from this whole experience. One, definitely, moving forward, I will never, and I give you guys my word to the hiking community, spray paint any other lean-to, or nature rocks, woods, or any of that jazz moving forward.  - Bravothename / Instagram

Even after saying that in his story on Instagram, the artist felt the need to explain why he thought what he did was justified.

I come back here thinking about everything as I'm sanding this down, And I come across Chaz, Dave, I come across Jilly, Andy, and a whole slew of names. Granted, have been carved on the lean-to. But, nevertheless, the whole thing has been defaced. Now that I stand here realizing this, I'm going to be quite honest, I don't feel like I did anything wrong here.  - Bravothename / Instagram

He goes on from there to suggest he might just come back and plan everything correctly, and do it again out of what he is calling principle. Why? Because he didn't agree with some of the things, while hateful and extreme, that was said to him on social media. He admits spray painting the rock ledges in nature is wrong but tries to defend his thought by looking back in history, back to hieroglyphics.

This is a matter the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) didn't take lightly. Plus, they had an easy way to track the man down without even needing to use put in much effort. While the man was leaving, karma struck, the man's vehicle became stuck and he now needed assistance. That assistance came from Forest Rangers, which guided the man in his vehicle down the mountain, and at the bottom the DEC arrested him.

Charged with a misdemeanor, the man will be headed back to Hunter again, this time for court on the charges he faces.