Cody police say their city was the latest to be vandalized by a 28-year-old Cheyenne man, whose graffiti has shown up on properties from Boston to Denver.
Marc Meadowcroft was taken into Park …
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Cody police say their city was the latest to be vandalized by a 28-year-old Cheyenne man, whose graffiti has shown up on properties from Boston to Denver.
Marc Meadowcroft was taken into Park County’s custody earlier this month on a felony charge of property destruction totaling $1,000 or more. Meadowcroft is alleged to have sprayed his tag — “ciga” or “cigar” — on several Cody buildings and fences one early October morning.
As of Wednesday, he was being held at the Park County Detention Center with bail set at $10,000 cash or surety. A prosecutor had requested that sum for the “rampant graffiti case.”
Surveillance footage and a traffic stop
Cody police say they obtained surveillance camera footage that shows Meadowcroft spray painting a fence that’s behind the Maverik gas station on 17th Street; a nearby brick building was also reportedly tagged off-camera. A short time later, another camera reportedly caught Meadowcroft painting purple text on a step while he filled up at the Conoco gas station across the street. Both incidents took place just after midnight on Oct. 29.
Officers also believe Meadowcroft was responsible for other “ciga” and “cigar” graffiti that showed up in downtown Cody that same night. In charging documents, Cody Police Officer Garret Rothleutner said he and his colleagues found the tags in black or yellow paint on a storage trailer behind Sunlight Sports plus three other buildings and three city dumpsters along Sheridan Avenue.
Police quickly tied Meadowcroft to the crimes because, roughly 15 minutes after the vandalism off 17th Street, officers had encountered Meadowcroft on Canyon Avenue. They cited him for having expired registration, issued a couple warnings and sent him on his way.
However, when the graffiti was later discovered — and when surveillance footage indicated it was the work of someone in a two-tone Chevy Silverado 1500 — Rothleutner’s colleagues recognized the vehicle as the one they’d stopped. Charging documents say one officer also specifically recalled seeing a spray paint can with a yellow cap in the passenger seat of Meadowcroft’s truck, along with a clown mask.
Long history of vandalism
The suspect’s history also fueled police suspicions: When Rothleutner looked at an FBI report on Meadowcroft’s past interactions with law enforcement, the officer said he found “a long criminal history of property destruction, tagging, and graffiti.” According to police and media reports, that includes repeatedly using the “ciga” or “cigar” tag over the past decade.
In 2014, when Meadowcroft was 19 and living in the Boston area, he reportedly sprayed “ciga” on two vintage trolleys and other property in the city, resulting in 14 felony counts of tagging. Meadowcroft agreed to stop the vandalism and received a suspended sentence, according to MBTA Transit Police.
However, in January 2016, he reportedly tagged a Boston transit station and months later, charging documents say he was caught tagging “ciga” and “cigar” in Denver. Then in the fall of 2016, police in Cheyenne accused him of spray painting the tag on roughly 80 street signs, power poles and fixtures. Court records indicate the Cheyenne case resulted in a couple misdemeanor convictions for property destruction.
Meadowcroft apparently completed some unsupervised probation and community service successfully, but he was implicated in more graffiti that popped up in Boston in the summer of 2018. That resulted in months of jail time, according to reporting by the news network Patch. In the summer of 2021, the New York Daily News reported that he’d been rearrested for tagging subway cars and a Times Square billboard.
Charging documents say Meadowcroft was also accused of vandalizing buildings in Miami in April 2023.
Barred from possessing paint
Park County prosecutors charged Meadowcroft just two days after the October vandalism was discovered in Cody, but he remained at large until Dec. 12. According to the Park County Sheriff’s Office, that’s when he was arrested on the local warrant in Edwardsville, Illinois. He was brought back to Cody on Jan. 14.
At his initial court appearance a few days later, Meadowcroft testified that he’s self-employed as an artist and has limited means. He ended each of his responses to Circuit Court Magistrate Brianne Phillips by addressing her as “your majesty.”
For example, when Phillips asked how much he normally makes in a month, Meadowcroft said it fluctuates, explaining, “last month I was in jail and I only was able to make $250 for being incarcerated, your majesty.”
At a later hearing on Monday, Meadowcroft’s court-appointed defense attorney, Tim Blatt, didn’t object to the $10,000 figure set by Phillips. However, Blatt asked that, if his client can post that sum, he be allowed to return to Cheyenne to be with family members and friends.
Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah agreed to remove a requirement that Meadowcroft stay in Park County — but only if he secures a location-tracking ankle monitor.
Darrah left in place other conditions, including one that says Meadowcroft must “not use or possess any spray paint or other form of paint without the court’s prior written permission.”
Meadowcroft agreed to have his case sent to Park County District Court, where he’ll enter a formal plea to the felony charge.