SUNY staffer charged in theft of election signs
A SUNY New Paltz lecturer who admits she stole campaign signs from private property is facing a misdemeanor charge of petit larceny, a town police official said Tuesday.
Laura C. Ebert, 54, of Cottekill, was arrested by Rosendale police on Nov. 5. She was due to be arraigned Tuesday night in Rosendale Town Court.
Rosendale Deputy Police Chief Scott Schaffrick said the arrest followed a report of a theft at a residence in the town.
He said a video surveillance system at the residence showed Ebert in the act of stealing lawn signs that favored Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro and U.S. Rep. John Faso. The video clearly showed Ebert’s vehicle and license plate, Schaffrick said.
In the video, Ebert can be seen getting out of her vehicle and removing the signs, police said.
When confronted by police, Schaffrick said Ebert admitted taking the signs, showed police where she had discarded them and “was apologetic after the fact.” He said the signs then were returned to the homeowner.
Ebert, who lives within a mile of the home where the signs were stolen, did not know the resident, the deputy chief said.
According to the SUNY New Paltz website, Ebert, is a lecturer in the college’s economics department who holds a bachelor’s degree from Bard College, a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research.
In an emailed statement, SUNY New Paltz spokeswoman Melissa Kaczmarek wrote: “The college is aware of and has received inquiries about this report involving misdemeanor charges filed against one of our employees for removal of political posters from private property off campus. We do not condone actions by any citizen, including an employee, that break the law.”
Kaczmarek wrote that “such actions are counter to campus values promoting the expression of diverse political views.”
Ebert could not immediately be reached for comment.
Schaffrick said there were no other reports of campaign sign thefts or vandalism in Rosendale during the recent election season.
In Saugerties, police arrested Robert V. Gallenz, 64, of East Bridge Street, on Oct. 5 and charged him with the misdemeanor of petit larceny for stealing signs supporting Juan Figueroa for Ulster County Sheriff and Antonio Delgado for Congress, Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said Tuesday. Both of those candidates won their elections.
Gallenz was accused of stealing the signs from a front lawn on Hudson Street in the Saugerties hamlet of Glasco.
The disposition of the Gallenz case was not immediately available from Saugerties Town Court on Tuesday.
Sinagra said there were a total of five complaints of campaign sign thefts in Saugerties and that signs were stolen from supporters of both Democrats and Republicans.
“It was just random, that’s why we think it was just kids,” the chief said.