The Daily Populous Wednesday October 23rd, 2024 night edition
Authored by ozarksfirst.com and submitted by millitzer

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — As the November General Election inches closer, it almost feels inevitable that there will be more reports of election signs stolen out of yards or from out front of businesses.

One Springfield woman was able to not only get her sign back but confront the person she believes took it and got it all on video.

“This has been the fourth the fourth sign that’s been stolen from my yard,” Laura McCaskill said.

So she and her partner John did something different this time.

They used an Apple Airtag and had it with the sign.

This past weekend, their Harris/Walz sign was stolen (other democrat candidate signs were untouched per McCaskill), and they got a hit on the tracker.

They initially tracked it to a Springfield restaurant, then eventually back to Nixa, when they arrived at a home residence.

“We ring the doorbell because [my partner] recognizes the car,” McCaskill said.

After speaking with a neighbor, they eventually get a hold of a woman who came out and spoke to McCaskill.

OzarksFirst is not naming anyone McCaskill spoke to since formal charges have not been filed at this time.

“She finally came up and we said hello, and we said we think that you have something in that car that was taken from our neighborhood,” McCaskill said. “She said, that was her son’s car and she said, ‘Well, he’s just an idiot’ and then she goes back in and we thought that was interesting.”

McCaskill showed the young man on her phone that the Airtag was nearby and McCaskill says he says it was in the trunk.

“I expected to find the air tag, but not 59 signs. It was kind of like finding a dead body. It was like are you kidding me? Most people, they take them and they throw them in a dumpster or they throw them in someone else’s yard. It was like there was a bounty on [the signs],” McCaskill said.

McCaskill recorded the confrontation and posted it on social media.

In the video, you can see dozens of signs in the trunk of a car, before the mother of the man grabs them, says “Here you go liberals” and tosses them in the direction of McCaskill and her partner calling the situation “stupid”.

“If I was just dealing with the young man, I would have been easier to forgive, but the fact that signs were thrown at us and there was no accountability and this was trespassing on 59 people’s properties, it was entitlement, is wrong here.

The young man then tells his mother to go inside before offering to help load the signs into McCaskill’s car.

In the video, McCaskill and her partner share that the signs carry a $20 donation, meaning if there were a total of even 50 signs, let alone 59 or 60, that’s already a total of $1000 in signage in the trunk of the young man’s car.

She told the man it’s in violation of the law, and his response was to bring up the financial threshold before the theft becomes a felony, mentioning Harris/Walz supporters can get the signs for “three or four dollars” on Etsy.

“I was like, who would look that up? It seemed like he felt like in his head he had an idea on the threshold of how he wouldn’t get in trouble,” McCaskill said. “This is disturbing because he actually had a thought process of what that limit was.”

In the video, the man is heard implying the motivation behind the alleged theft is from a video he saw on TikTok.

McCaskill had reservations about what to do after the confrontation.

“This is pervasive theft. This was calculated. This is a different level,” McCaskill said. “My son said, you know, the best thing that you can do is to shame the behavior and he said to post it.”

Nixa Police were called, and McCaskill was able to get her sign back because her address was written on the sign but the rest are being held by the Springfield Police Department.

When asked why he had McCaskill’s sign, considering this confrontation happened in Nixa, but McCaskill lives in Springfield, the young man says he was just in the area.

McCaskill filed a police report today and says others in the neighborhood will as well.

“My primary objective, yes, I think it needs to be called out the behavior. I also feel if it was just [my sign], I would not press charges. My intent is to do so. Others are in the neighborhood and filing police reports because this is a very large swath and is happening in various Springfield neighborhoods,” McCaskill said. “We don’t want to cause any harm to the young man or his family, but the attitude is bothersome and I hope that can be turned around for him.”

OzarksFirst asked her about the situation if it was reversed, where Trump/Vance signs would be hypothetically stolen.

“If my son stole Trump signs, I would hold him accountable and have him deliver and do yard work for those people. I would be horrified if he did that. I would say, this is really wrong and you need to return their signs,” McCaskill said. “It’s respecting your neighbors, respecting their First Amendment rights.”

OzarksFirst reached out to Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson for comment regarding the legal ramifications of election sign stealing.

Patterson referred us to Missouri Statute 115.637 which says, “Class four election offenses. — The following offenses, and any others specifically so described by law, shall be class four election offenses and are deemed misdemeanors not connected with the exercise of the right of suffrage. A conviction for any of these offenses shall be punished by imprisonment of not more than one year or by a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars or by both such imprisonment and fine:”

Offense 19 says, “Stealing or willfully defacing, mutilating, or destroying any campaign yard sign on private property, except that this subdivision shall not be construed to interfere with the right of any private property owner to take any action with regard to campaign yard signs on the owner’s property and this subdivision shall not be construed to interfere with the right of any candidate, or the candidate’s designee, to remove the candidate’s campaign yard sign from the owner’s private property after the election day.

Rountree resident Lynda Schliber says her sign was likely one of the ones in the trunk of that car and was missing from their yard when they returned home after the weekend.

“You feel invaded when you put things out in your yard and then then they disappear, and plus there were about 60 signs stolen, so it wasn’t just us,” Schibler said. “It was someone deliberately went down the sidewalk and just took them. They didn’t destroy anything else, and it’s just a challenge because I want everybody to have their voices heard.”

One home on Pickwick has a handmade Harris/Walz sign, written in Sharpie on poster board.

“I thought about making signs if we needed to. That’s what I would have gone to next,” Schibler said. “We just [our signs] a little closer so that it maybe discourage people coming up in the yard, but I’m not sure it’s going to help.”

Her husband Steve says this isn’t some random occurrence.

“Ordinarily you just assume it’s kids doing it, and I’d say most part that’s probably true. I don’t know that it’s a new thing necessarily,” Steve said.

The two say respect is important, especially when it comes to other people’s property.

“I think everybody should feel free to have signs in their yard and that they should respect everybody’s property, whatever their decision is. They need to have that right for their voice to be heard as well, if it’s through signage or whatever, but you know, respecting people’s property should be utmost, I think,” Schibler said.

Ok_Spray3750 on October 22nd, 2024 at 14:44 UTC »

The reaction of the mother and teen that stole property and trespassed on dozens of homes was absolutely wild.

just_a_floor1991 on October 22nd, 2024 at 14:05 UTC »

Being stupid to own the Libs

YourMomonaBun420 on October 22nd, 2024 at 14:04 UTC »

"said, that was her son’s car and she said, ‘Well, he’s just an idiot’"

"In the video, you can see dozens of signs in the trunk of a car, before the mother of the man grabs them, says “Here you go liberals” and tosses them in the direction of..."

The pot doesn't fall too far from the kettle.