LEWISTON — Three buildings at the Michel E. Giroux ball fields off Jacqueline Avenue were vandalized or used as temporary housing over the winter, causing thousands of dollars in damage, according to the Lewiston Little League.

Tanya Whitlow, Little League president, said Wednesday that the discovery was made Jan. 1 after police were called by a neighbor who noticed individuals using the buildings at the complex, also known as Elliot Field. The news didn’t reach the broader public until a GoFundMe account was created Tuesday that shared details.

According to the account created by Jeff Whitlow, Little League secretary, volunteers found that squatters had been living in the snack shack and the announcer’s booth during the winter.

The facilities were found littered with an enormous amount of trash, graffiti and buckets of human feces.

“Over the winter we suffered a huge loss when someone broke into multiple buildings at our Elliot Field location,” Whitlow wrote on the page. “As you can see from the pictures the individual(s) left a path of destruction. Not only did they tear into things that were left behind in storage, they also thought it would be fun to vandalize using spray paint throughout the snack shack and above one of the dugouts.”

Even worse, he said, “while living in these conditions they decided to defecate throughout the snack shack, leaving buckets of human feces in an area where food is normally prepared.”

Tanya Whitlow said after the discovery was made, the three buildings were boarded up until renovations could begin.

Elliot Field, as it’s also known, is part of the league’s north campus that includes Little League, Babe Ruth and softball fields.

Jeff Whitlow said thousands of dollars of equipment will likely not be salvageable and the entire snack shack will likely need to be renovated due to the damage.

According to Lewiston police, a subsequent investigation led to the department charging 18-year-old Jordan Cruz, a transient from Florida, with two counts of misdemeanor criminal trespassing.

Cruz pleaded guilty in February to one of the counts and was fined $250.

Whitlow said she believes the homeless man had been living in the snack shack “for survival” during the winter, while the other facilities above the dugouts may possibly have been used by other individuals to party at night. She said two doors had been ripped off their hinges.

While the league carries the insurance required by the national Little League organization, Whitlow recently found out that this type of property damage is not covered under their plan.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the GoFundMe account had raised $1,325 in its first 15 hours. The goal is $15,000.

“There’s a lot of work that’s going to have to happen,” she said. “Little League is really lucky in that there are a lot of supporters everywhere.”

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