I was at my car lot today and the empty lot next to me had a political sign stuck in the ground. Some guy pulled into my lot and ran over to the sign, yanked it out, smashed it, and then threw it into his car and sped off.

I considered calling the police but wasn't sure if it was worth doing so. First, it wasn't my sign and I don't know who actually put it there. I texted the guy I'm leasing from as he owns the empty lot as well but I haven't heard back from him. If it's not his, then I guess I shouldn't really care. It does bother me that someone would think it's OK to do this in broad daylight... coming onto my lot to steal that sign which may have been mine for all he knows.

So is this illegal? What should I have done?

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... So is this illegal? What should I have done?

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Only if the sign was put there by the owner of the lot, or someone who obtained the owner's permission. Otherwise, technically, it is abandoned property.

What should you have done? Nothing, other than perhaps what you did do (contacting the owner of the lot). It's not important enough to loose sleep over.

The owner of the lot got back to me and said that a friend of his had asked if he could post the sign there. He said he's not worried about it so I guess it doesn't matter much. It still annoys me that this idiot came onto my lot and parked there to steal the sign while I was watching.

This is illegal at least in Arizona:
16-1019. Political signs; printed materials; tampering; classification It is a class 2 misdemeanor for any person to knowingly remove, alter, deface or cover any political sign of any candidate for public office or knowingly remove, alter or deface any political mailers, handouts, flyers or other printed materials of a candidate that are delivered by hand to a residence for the period commencing forty-five days before a primary election and ending seven days after the general election
I suspect there are similar laws in most areas.

My question is do you have anything to identify the person. Did you get a license plate? Any surveillance cameras? If you have anything other than your word I would report it.

I got a make and model of the car and the first 3 letters of the plate.

It is illegal here in PA as well. I figure if the friend of the lot owner who posted the sign is upset about it, I will tell him the information. Other than that, since it technically wasn't on my leased portion of the lot, I will probably just let it go.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

This is illegal at least in Arizona:
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I suspect there are similar laws in most areas.
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Good research job. However I don't see anything similar in the Pennsylvania statutes, either the election code or the criminal code.

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Originally Posted by odinn7

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It is illegal here in PA as well. ...

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Where? I must have missed it.

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Originally Posted by AK lawyer

Where? I must have missed it.

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Troubled teen councilman charged with driving through farm field, stealing political signs - phillyburbs.com: Hot Pennsyltucky Mess: kyle bower,

Granted, he is in jail for the other things but he was charged with stealing the signs also.

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Originally Posted by odinn7

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Granted, he is in jail for the other things but he was charged with stealing the signs also.

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Stealing the signs suggests they belonged to someone. Under the Arizona statute quoted, it appears to be a crime in Arizona to "remove, alter, deface or cover" political signs within so many days of an election, even if it is unknown whether they belong to anyone. The subject of the news article, on the other hand, is apparently charged with simple theft of signs.

Ok, I see what you're saying.

In the case of what happened today, the sign did belong to someone and I will let him decide if he wants to do anything about it.

I remember back in the 50s and maybe beyond, it was considered to be a time-honored tradition that people from opposing parties would go around stealing as many signs as they could, but only along the edges of roads that belonged to the city, town, or state, which is always some number of feet in from the road. Gradually ordinances and state laws went into effect as there was more and more wrangling over ownership of the signs and where property lines are. Traditions die hard.

In TN where I used to live, it was very common, the 3 officers who patrol the entire county do not have time to even take a report.

I had cars driving though my yard, driving over the signs and destroying them almost every night. They destroyed about 30 or more, before I put a iron rod inbedded in concrete behind one of the signs ( in my yard) I followed the trail of oil and water down the road the next morning for a mile or so

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

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They destroyed about 30 or more, before I put a iron rod inbedded in concrete behind one of the signs ( in my yard) I followed the trail of oil and water down the road the next morning for a mile or so

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:)