Brianna Kraemer
Carolina Journal
A sign thief was caught on camera stealing political signs from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police office not just once, but three times in the span of a week and a half.
The Charlotte-Meckleburg FOP – the nation’s oldest and largest police labor union – displayed several political signs outside its building in support of Republicans Donald Trump for President and Luke Farley for NC Labor Commissioner, as well as Democrat Senate candidate Woodsen Bradley.
The same man appeared around 10 pm in a Jeep Grand Cherokee on October 10, 15, and 20 and removed all the signs from the property. The three instances were caught on camera after the FOP decided to hang up a trail camera due to the signs first being knocked over.
With over 2,000 members in the Charlotte FOP, the organization has members on both sides of the aisles and they endorse candidates of different political parties. At the will of its members, the national FOP endorsed Trump for president earlier this year.
Daniel Redford, President of the Charlotte FOP, told the Carolina Journal that it’s not about the signs but rather the principle of the matter that he keeps coming back and stealing.
“Taking our signs doesn’t do anything but give us more attention on the candidates that that we support,” said Redford, adding that the story has now made national news. “So really, he’s more than helping us than he’s doing anything else… We’ve had multiple news articles on it so the attention we’ve gotten over it is completely opposite of what I would expect he intended.”
The man has not been identified, but a police report has been filed. If his identity is revealed, Redford expects the FOP will provide his name and an update on their Facebook page.
“We are a police organization… I don’t know if he realizes who he’s taking them from,” said Redford. “Is this guy just going around and ripping them out of the ground in other people’s yards too? So I’ve dubbed him as the serial sign thief because he’s done it so many times.”
Labor Commissioner candidate Luke Farley, who’s sign was removed at the FOP office, condemned sign thiefs in comments he provided to the Carolina Journal.
“Stealing yard signs can really hurt campaigns, especially smaller ones,” said Farley. “These signs cost a lot of money. My volunteers and even my own kids have spent time and effort putting up signs all over the state, and they keep getting stolen. Thankfully, we’ve finally caught them red-handed here — and police reports have been filed to hold them to account for this theft.”
In another recent sign thief incident just days ago, a North Carolina House candidate and Moore County Democratic Party chair resigned from his post after being charged with stealing Trump campaign signs. The 68-year-old was charged with two misdemeanor counts of larceny of political signs and is scheduled to be in court on October 30.
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