A state House candidate went to extreme lengths recently to catch the person stealing his campaign signs -- and it worked.
Watt Jones, a Democrat running in House District 40, noticed his signs disappearing from an intersection at the corner of Durham Road and Thompson Mill Road in Wake Forest. After his signs disappeared two days in a row, he borrowed a wildlife surveillance camera from a friend.
"I went over there, strapped it to a tree, put more signs out and the next day they were gone," Jones said.
Jones checked the camera and found his culprit. The camera took photos of a man in a reflective vest putting his signs into the trunk of his car. Jones turned to Twitter to broadcast the images and ask social media users to identify the perpetrator.
But the ultimate breakthrough in the case of the missing signs came Friday when he drove by the location and saw a car pulled off the road. He confronted the driver -- the same man from the photos -- and wrote down his license plate, which he sent to the Wake County Sheriff's Office.
On Friday, sheriff's deputies cited Samuel A. Blackwell III, a registered Democrat, for taking the signs, a misdemeanor crime.
Jones, who is running against Republican incumbent Marilyn Avila, said he doesn't know Blackwell. But Blackwell seem to admit guilt when he stopped him. "He said, 'I'll vote your you, if you don't prosecute me,'" Jones said.
Blackwell is expected in court in late November.
Comments
Hope so!
October 16, 2012 - 8:03am — RedHotPokerI hope their efforts are effective! People with brains view Obama-Biden signs as displays of IGNORANCE!
Democratic Signs are disappearing all across North Carolina
October 16, 2012 - 7:18am — MalleusMaleficarumThere is a group called DefeatObama active in North Carolina. Some Democratic Party officials believe they could be behind a statewide campaign to tear down, steal and deface signs belonging to Democratic candidates. These goon squads are a threat to democracy and law enforcement is not doing anything to stop them. A political putsch is quietly unfolding in North Carolina - led by Pat McCrory and his team of political vandals and hooligans.
What?
October 15, 2012 - 5:15pm — booboobearPerhaps you missed the point of this article. Does your rambling post have anything to do with the theft of a political candidate's signs? Oh well, puch ahead if you much (Al Sharpton 2012).
classified IP theft
October 15, 2012 - 1:43pm — Phillip_HugganPolls suggest Americans believe Romney will lower the debt better than Obama. With fewer health insurance administrative costs, and fewer churning traders (Buffett Rule), he has Obama beat. There isn't much fat (thus ghettos) to cut and they won't talk about it now.
I finished an MIT and a Havard Paper; the Havard Paper made me realize fake organ research can lead to better robotic respirators and better distant future medical treatments. Poor Americans under the GOP will not be able to go to MIT or Harvard. And the dual use nature of this research means poor Africans et al might have difficulty being American researchers. I'm pro Stem Cells, at least now, with the caveat about technical hurdles encountered recently. If the USA doesn't utilize as many loyal minds as possible to accomplish and channel this research, people might be drawn to jurisdiction where it will be stolen (by bioterrorists) with greater frequency. The USA has superior Homeland Security to Interpol and Canada and Asia. All of this funding relies on not too much debt: ie) tax increases.
I don't yet know how fast to puch ahead with this R+D. But I know we need at least robotic ventilators for Spanish Flu II. Potentially an oil barrel fraction (PDMS). Americans who got rich using Cold War tax policy, like Bain Capital owners, well, Bain doesn't estimate the cost of a cancer and heart disease cure. I'd guess an USA Crown will give me that figure before the bloated USA finance industry. I like 1st language English papers. Even written by Swedes, the allusions are all off.