One of Hess’s campaign workers was putting out signs late so as to avoid holding up traffic, Hess said. But as he turned around to go home, he noticed that the signs he had put up were already gone. “He had virtually just put them out,” Hess said.
The campaign worker had noticed a white Ford F150 parked by a street where some of the signs were stolen but hadn’t paid any attention to it at the time, Hess said, so the sheriff’s office doesn’t have a license plate or physical description to use.
Hess’s challenger for the sheriff’s position, Mark Belew, has also had about 15 signs go missing from homeowner property in the Fork Union and Kents Store area, which Belew said makes the theft a crime against the homeowner. He has urged those affected to contact the sheriff’s office.
“It’s petty and it’s criminal,” Belew said of the sign theft. “I would never condone that. I encourage people to support a candidate at the polls and not through any criminal activities.”
Sheriff Hess agreed. “You don’t have any control over people,” he said. “Who knows? It could be kids just having fun at the expense of others. I wouldn’t suspect that anybody participating in either campaign would do something like that. We’re asking people to be mindful and let us know if they know anything.” Hess warned that the sheriff’s office will “go after” whoever is stealing signs, regardless of political affiliation.
The election is set for Nov. 4.
