A second teenager was arrested on Wednesday and charged with vandalizing Representative Michael G. Grimm's campaign headquarters on Staten Island over the weekend. The boy, Avery Gerena, 16, told the police that he did not know the office was Mr. Grimm's when he threw a rock through its window, according to a criminal complaint.
Mr. Grimm had initially contended that the vandalism, which occurred on Saturday night on a busy thoroughfare in New Dorp, was “a politically motivated crime†and called it “an assault on democracy.†He said the office's computers had been tampered with and confidential campaign files had been erased.
A 14-year-old was arrested in the case on Tuesday and charged as a juvenile. Investigators believe that he did not know either that the building was a congressman's office when he vandalized it. His name was not released.
After the arrest on Tuesd ay, Mr. Grimm acknowledged that a campaign volunteer might have “inadvertently compromised†the computers.
Avery, the older boy, was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. He was arraigned and released on his own recognizance, an official said.
Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the Police Department's chief spokesman, said on Wednesday that detectives from the Computer Crimes Squad were still analyzing a large amount of data from the computer systems in Mr. Grimm's office and had not yet determined whether they had been tampered with.
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