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    • Stealing your neighbors’ election signs is illegal in all 50 states
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    Stealing your neighbors’ election signs is illegal in all 50 states

    Online Niel Posted on

    In case anyone needs reminding: Why, yes, this it is illegal to steal your neighbors political billboards.

    It might seem like a no-brainer, but based on recent social media posts in the Cincinnati region — and beyond — it’s clear that not everyone is aware of this legal information.

    Or maybe they just don’t care.

    With the 2024 presidential election just over a week away, a number of complaints have been filed about signs removing Houdini acts from backyards. Colerain Municipalityas well as elsewhere in Ohio and Kentucky.

    Reports of missing signs around any election cycle aren’t uncommon — and in fact, slanted political signs can go missing even when an election isn’t pending, as was the case earlier this year in Anderson Township. It’s common enough, in fact, that in Gen Alpha parlance, sign stealers could be said to be basic and broken.

    It is also illegal, although the penalties are somewhat minor, unless the theft is on a large scale. In Ohio, thefts are misdemeanors until they reach $1,000 per Ohio law. In Kentucky, most political sign thefts would be classified as class B misdemeanorsaccording to an article written in 2022 by Campbell County District Attorney Steve Franzen.

    In Springfield, Missouri, a woman recently went viral after posting videos showing her and her husband using an Apple tracking device to lead them to the kidnapper of the yard sign, which also had 59 other yard signs in the trunk of his car.

    Lane Simmons, a representative of the police services in that Springfield (no Springfield in Ohiowho recently had a politically charged viral moment), said the case is still under investigation. The videos suggest that the sign thieves calculated the cost of their stolen loot and estimated that it fell just below what they believed to be the threshold of the crime.

    However, it’s worth noting that while the thief said the threshold for felony status was $200, it’s actually $750, according to Missouri state law. And also stealing political signs falls under a different legal title altogether and is punishable by up to one year in prison or a fine of $2,500. (Moral of the story: Don’t trust viral videos for legal advice.)

    Simmons said calculating the value of a political court sign is simple because some signs are given in exchange for political donations, which could mean someone felt they paid $20 for a court sign when a judge might decides that the value of the sign is only the cost of its actual material. .

    Perhaps because of those gray areas, some online are proposing a more vigilant approach to deter sign theft. A Reddit This week’s topic discussing thefts in the Cincinnati area offered some unsavory home options that would mark, embarrass, or disturb any thieves. These include coating yard signs with petroleum jelly and glitter, spraying them with fox or deer urine, attaching trackers to them (much like the Missouri woman) and installing motion-activated lights near them.

    While this approach isn’t endorsed by area police, here’s one that is: Don’t steal yard signs.

    So far, that’s happening in Wyoming, Ohio, a fact that left police officer Jessica Eastham almost giddy Friday morning.

    “We’ve had problems in the past,” Eastham said, “but we haven’t had any reports of missing signs this year.”

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