NEW YORK (AP) – Police had no trouble locating three men suspected of scrawling graffiti Saturday on four of “The Gates”: the trio allegedly had written their names on the saffron-colored art installation in Central Park.

The three suspects, all from New Jersey, had their first encounter with police at about 1:30 a.m. near East 62nd Street when they were ticketed for being inside the park after the 1 a.m. closing, police said. A short time later, officers spotted graffiti written on four of the 16-foot high gates; the men had allegedly signed their names to the work created by artists Christo and Jean-Claude, police said.

Using information from the earlier tickets, police quickly tracked the men down and summoned them to the 22nd Precinct in Manhattan. When they arrived, Gregory Giarnitta, 18, of Parsippany, N.J., John Leonard, 20, of Hackettstown, N.J., and David Jones, 19, of Mine Hill, N.J., were all charged with criminal mischief, police said.

“The Gates,” the hugely successful installation that debuted in Central Park on Feb. 12, will be dismantled after today. Vandalism has been minor, with someone scribbling “art?” on the bases of some gates, but these were the first arrests.