Postal worker caught allegedly stealing Trump sign
A postal worker was caught on camera allegedly stealing a Donald Trump campaign sign Thursday from the lawn of a home in Townsend.
The Republican presidential candidate's campaign sign was in the area of U.S. 13 and Chestnut Lane near Townsend. About 11:50 a.m. Thursday, surveillance images allegedly show a postal worker exit his vehicle and remove the sign before leaving the area. "It's juvenile behavior," said Delaware GOP spokesman John Fluharty. He added that the homeowner purchased a camera after the constant removal of Trump signs over the past few weeks.
“In the final days of the campaign, this is something that has become a pattern behavior in the last two cycles, and this is something that has to stop,” Fluharty said.
The incident will be investigated by the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General.
“Special agents with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG) responded to this issue as soon as it was brought to our attention,” said Scott Balfour, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Investigation Service in an emailed statement. “The individual in the photographs was identified and will be dealt with appropriately by postal management after a thorough review of all the facts."
The incident comes on the heels of the defacing of a La Mar Gunn campaign sign, a GOP candidate for lieutenant governor and head of a local NAACP branch. Feces was found smeared on his political signs, and other campaign materials were reported to have been vandalized. Months earlier, Gunn also found campaign signs on his porch had been urinated on.
“Republicans in Delaware have run a strong ticket and Democrats feel threatened, and when that happens, you see a lot of activists engage in this type of behavior," Fluharty said. "It's one thing for candidates and political parties to disagree. It is another for their supporters to engage in illegal activity.
"What this gentleman is not is a representative of the many postal workers working out of the Townsend postal office," Fluharty said.
To report misconduct by Postal Service employees, contact the USPS OIG hotline at www.uspsoig.gov or (888) USPS-OIG.
Contact Alonzo Small at (302) 324-2856 or asmall@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @P_AlonzoSmall.