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| MAGAland at its worst. Two men steal Harris-Walz signs in Missouri. |
Jackson Chester of Springfield, Missouri put his family and friends at risk of public humiliation.
Springfield is the largest municipality in the United States. It has a population of 175,000. Not the Springfield that became a national story. that would be in Ohio.
Laura McCaskill said her Kamala Harris/Tim Walz campaign sign was stolen multiple times, so she and her partner John Cardoza attached an Apple AirTag to it. The AirTag allows iPhone users to track the tag with an app and is often used for keys, wallets or even pets.
In most cases, McCaskill and Cardoza would find the stolen sign by a dumpster. When their Harris/Walz sign went missing for the fourth time — along with many others in their Rountree neighborhood — early Saturday morning, McCaskill and Cardoza decided to follow the AirTag once again.
This time, it led them to two cars at a local restaurant, but Cardoza couldn't tell which one had the tag. On Sunday, after the Kansas City Chiefs game, the AirTag led them to a residence in Nixa, where they confronted the alleged thief.
They weren't expecting to find 60 Harris/Walz signs in the trunk of the car.
McCaskill has posted a video on Facebook and on TikTok of her and Cardoza finding the signs. The video also shows her and Cardoza's interactions with an 18-year-old man who opened the trunk of the car that had the signs and the young man's mother. In the video, he says he didn't have anything to do with the theft and that he loaned his car to a friend. Later in the video, the young man says it was a TikTok trend, which the News-Leader was unable to confirm, and that he's aware neighbors have video recordings showing him taking the signs.
The young man shown in the video declined to comment for this story.
According to McCaskill, the signs were worth $1,180 all together. According to Missouri law, an act of theft is considered a Class D felony if "the value of property or services appropriated" is $750 or more.
She said she has filed a police report with the Nixa Police Department and SPD. McCaskill confirmed to the News-Leader that she plans to press charges because of the number of signs stolen and encouraged her neighbors to file reports with the Springfield Police Department.
"This is a First Amendment right (to display political signs)," McCaskill said. You are not to trespass and take other people's property in the middle of the night and disrespect their beliefs ... I don't want to harm a young man and his life. But I want him to respect others' property and others' views, as we should."
Chester was not arrested. But this public shaming may discourage other Republicans or Democrats from damaging or stealing campaign signs.
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