Arrests made in Congress Park vandalism

Sean A. Burke, left, and Spencer M. Cole

Two sailors assigned to the U.S. Navy nuclear training site in West Milton have been arrested on charges related to last weeks’s vandalism of a statue in Congress Park, city police said.

Spencer M. Cole, 25, of Ballston Spa, and Sean A. Burke, 22, of Rensselaer, were charged Monday morning with second-degree criminal mischief, a felony, police said.

Police said Cole and Burke are accused of damaging the “Pan” statue in Congress Park early on the morning of Sept. 6 and were among four people seen in surveillance videos. Pan is a figure from Greek mythology.

“Cole and Burke were the individuals who caused the actual damage to the statue,” police said in a prepared statement. “The other two parties with Cole and Burke have been identified and interviewed, however there will not be any criminal charges on either of them.”

The damage is believed to have occurred at about 5:45 a.m., after the men had been drinking.

Police said the local Navy command cooperated with the investigation.

Cole and Burke were arraigned in City Court and released into the custody of the Navy, police said. A navy legal office spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Navy site in West Milton trains hundreds of sailors each year in how to operate naval nuclear reactors, and most live in local communities.

The statue, which was seriously damaged, has been removed from its pedestal among a set of marble Greek figures in a secluded corner of the park near the “Spit” and “Spat” statues. It is being stored at the city public works garage, pending repairs. Police last week estimated the damage at about $6,000.

The statue was in the Italianate gardens, which date from the early 1900s when Richard Canfield owned the nearby gambling casino.

The “Spit” and “Spat” statues were vandalized in 1999, leading to the city’s installation of surveillance cameras throughout the park There have nevertheless been a number of instances of vandalism since then.

Reach Gazette reporter Stephen Williams at 395-3086, [email protected] or @gazettesteve on Twitter.