Titusville mayoral candidate charged with theft after sign removal incident

Titusville mayoral candidate Vickie Conklin now faces two theft charges after police say she was unlawfully removed campaign signs posted by her opponent in the race, Andreas Connors.

Conklin’s lawyer Scott Robinson said his client plans to fight the charges, which he says were filed in bad faith as a politically motivated attempt to derail her campaign.

According to a police report, Conklin removed the two large signs from the lawn in front of the Titusville library on Oct. 22 when she discovered they had been placed in front of the area she had used earlier that day as her campaign tent to greet voters. and planned to use it the next day as well.

One of the signs featured a photo of Conklin’s face and a misspelled name, with language saying she was endorsed by Brevard Democrats in the nonpartisan race. Conklin told police she believed the sign was placed there as a form of intimidation.

She also said at the time that the signs did not contain a legally required disclaimer indicating who paid for them and that they were placed there to deter her from campaigning. Body camera footage of Conklin’s interactions with police shows her admitting to removing the signs while believing she had the right to do so.

When asked about the issue, Connors texted the following statement to FLORIDA TODAY:

“This situation is deeply disappointing. Campaigns should be about engaging the community and focusing on the issues that matter. While we all expect spirited competition, acts of theft and dishonesty have no place in our elections. I appreciate the continued support from my friends, family and the people of Titusville through this process. Let’s move forward with integrity and focus on the future of our city.

Connors claimed that the signs Conklin removed did have the required disclaimers indicating who paid for them. FLORIDA TODAY has not seen the signs and cannot confirm whether or not the disclaimers were there/

When asked why he put up a sign with his opponent’s name and photo, Connors said the photo was taken from the Democratic Party’s Facebook page and that Conklin should be asked “why she is ashamed of her support .”

Conklin’s attorney vows to fight “politically motivated” charges

Conklin’s attorney Robinson said Thursday that the signs were not removed as an attempt to sabotage her opponent’s campaign. He said they will gather more information to fight the charges, to which Conklin will plead not guilty.

“From the get-go, it makes absolutely no sense,” Robinson said. ‘It’s really strange. It looks like it was investigated by a detective. With everything else going on today, why do they let a detective investigate a second-degree crime?”

One of the signs bearing Conklin’s face and name would make it appear to voters as if he belonged to her campaign, Robinson said. Without a legal disclaimer on the sign, Conklin herself risked an ethics complaint over a sign that her campaign was not responsible for putting up, she told officers at the scene, according to a police report.

Robinson described the situation as an example of “dirty politics” and said an outside agency should have been brought in to conduct an investigation instead of allowing the Titusville Police Department to investigate candidates for city council.

Controversies over campaign signs are common

The recent events in Titusville are far from the first time campaign signals have become a flashpoint in a contentious election. Allegations of sign stealing regularly surface. In 2018, the removal of campaign signs became a controversy in the US Race for cocoa mayors which led to a police call.

During this election cycle, Democratic party chair Pam Castellana said videos of Kamala Harris signs being removed and destroyed were reported to delegates without action being taken.

“The Harris signs have been repeatedly defaced and last week a friend of mine happened to be driving by when she saw a man cutting the Harris banner out of the wooden poles, taking it and two Harris signs, throwing them into his truck and taking them to down the road with the signs flying out of his truck,” Castellana said.

Castellana said the deputy said nothing could be done, citing a state law that bans campaign signs on state- or county-owned roads.

To her, the Sheriff’s Office’s unwillingness to investigate the incident was evidence of a double standard when it comes to the types of campaign sign violations that would be enforced.

Tyler Vazquez is the Brevard County and North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or [email protected]