A recent Student Association cabinet member is one of two students now facing a felony charge after the Department of Public Safety says the pair spray-painted several campus buildings with cryptic messages last December, causing more than $5,700 in damage.

Sawyer Cresap — who served as chair of the Student Engagement Committee last spring — and former Recorder Nick Bonafilia have each been charged with felony second-degree criminal mischief, according to criminal complaints dated March 4. Both are also charged with the misdemeanor of making graffiti.

Bonafilia has been released and was arraigned April 10. He’s expected back in court Nov. 20. Cresap was released on her own recognizance and arraigned April 25. Her next court date is on for Oct. 30.

Cresap “did admitt (sic) to her actions in a written statement of fact,” according to the felony complaint against her. The Daily Orange has filed a Freedom of Information Law request for the police reports and other statements relating to the case, which were not provided in the court file.

When reached Saturday, Cresap said she wanted to speak with her attorney. She did not return two additional messages afterward. Bonafilia declined to be interviewed.

DPS Associate Chief John Sardino said recently two people had been arrested in the case — but he did not identify them — as they did not pose a threat to campus safety. The criminal complaints in the case were signed by a DPS detective.

Sardino said, “there wasn’t any significant motive” behind the graffiti. He said the spray-painting took planning and “spiraled” past the point where the two people wanted it to go. The department pieced together the investigation by viewing a “significant” amount of surveillance footage, conducting interviews and checking with local businesses about recent purchases that were made there.

“It was a really a team effort by the men and women who work for the investigations unit,” Sardino said.

In court documents, DPS said Cresap and Bonafilia caused $5,726 worth of damage when they spray-painted the campus buildings on Dec. 9. Many of the messages were critical of the university, while the meaning of others was less obvious.

One message written across a bench near Eggers Hall said “$57,000 to take your finals.” Another message scrolled across the exterior wall of Newhouse III said “#1 in communication LAST in free speech.” Smith Hall was marked with “Draw a monster why is it a monster?,” a quote by novelist Janice Lee, while “Love is cursed by monogamy,” a lyric from Kanye West and Jay Z’s song “No Church in the Wild,” was graffitied onto Link Hall.

After her arrest, Cresap continued to serve in her SA cabinet position. In a statement emailed to The Daily Orange, SA President Boris Gresely said he was “deeply shocked and disappointed.”

“As your Student Association president, I’d like to be the first to assure students, faculty and members of the local community that SA has a zero tolerance policy regarding any sort of criminal activity,” Gresely said in the statement. “Any member of SA will be terminated immediately upon discovery of any such activity.”

Cresap is also co-founder of Undergraduates for a Better Education, a student research and interest group that works to improve the quality of undergraduate education at Syracuse University. The group was started in the 1980s and has been sporadically active on campus since then. Cresap and Emily Ballard, a senior policy studies major, reformed the group in spring 2013.

— Design Editor Nick Coggiola contributed reporting to this article.

Published on June 28, 2014 at 4:02 pm

Contact Jessica: jliannet@syr.edu | @JessicaIannetta