Strange behavior when using int arrays in a library

Using Arduino Programming Questions
#1

I wrote a small library which could be used to toggle a light with one or more push buttons. It is like the OneButton Library, but with the additional feature, that you can specify more than one button for a specific light.

I am using an int array which contains the pins where the buttons are connected to:

In the header file I do define the array:

private:
 int _switchPins[5]; // pins for the light switch(es)

In the cpp I do initialize the array in the constructor:

LightOne::LightOne(int switchPin, int lightPin, boolean activeLow)
{
  pinMode(switchPin, INPUT); // sets the switchPin to act as input
  pinMode(lightPin, OUTPUT); // set the lightPin to act as output

  _switchPins[0]  = switchPin;
  _switchPins[1] = -1;
  _switchPins[2] = -1;
  _switchPins[3] = -1;
  _switchPins[4] = -1;

Another method could be used to add additional swich pins:

void LightOne::addSwitchPin(int switchPin)
{
    for (int i=0; i<5; i++) {
         if (_switchPins[i] == -1) {
			_switchPins[i] = switchPin;
			pinMode(switchPin, INPUT);
			if (_activeLow) {
			   digitalWrite(switchPin, HIGH);   // turn on pulldown resistor
			}
			break;
		 }
    }
} // addSwitchPin

And in the method which gets called from the mail program (kind of loop method of the library), I do check if one of the buttons are pressed:

void LightOne::tick(void)
{
  // Detect the input information 
  int buttonLevel = _buttonReleased;

  // look at each configured button if one is pressed (=_buttonPressed)  
  for (int i=0; i<5; i++) {
   if (_switchPins[i] != -1) {
        if (digitalRead(_switchPins[i]) == _buttonPressed) {
		     buttonLevel = _buttonPressed;
	    }
		if (_debug && buttonLevel == _buttonPressed) {
			Serial.print("Light-Button PIN ");
			Serial.print(_switchPins[i]);
			Serial.println(" pressed");
		}
	}
  }
....

In the main Program I am using that library:

#include <LightOne.h>

LightOne light1(4, 13, false);

void setup() {
  light1.addSwitchPin(5);
  light1.addSwitchPin(6);
}

void loop() {
  light1.tick();
}

I am using the Arduino Nano and after the 3rd or 4th Button press I am getting on the Serial Monitor very strange outputs:

Light-Button PIN 5013 pressed
Light-Button PIN -235 pressed

and that not just once, but very very often.
What could go wrong that my int array get messed up?

Thanks

p.s. I do have a much better Java knowledge than C/C++, so I am kind of a newby to C/C++!

#2 
LightOne::LightOne(int switchPin, int lightPin, boolean activeLow)
{
  pinMode(switchPin, INPUT); // sets the switchPin to act as input
  pinMode(lightPin, OUTPUT); // set the lightPin to act as output

You should not be using hardware-specific function calls in your constructor. Your constructor is called before init(), where the hardware is initialized.

In your tick() method, add a for loop to Serial.print() all 5 pin numbers. A light might go on.

#3