Caught on camera: East Point candidate reports theft of campaign signs

EAST POINT, Georgia. – Every election season, it never seems to fail that someone calls the FOX 5 Atlanta newsroom and says their candidate’s signs were stolen.

This time an East Point candidate has the proof. The perpetrators were captured on video in the middle of the night.

“A lot of my supporters woke up and sent me messages saying my sign was stolen, my sign is missing, it’s gone,” at-large East Point Council candidate Shan Atkins told FOX 5.

The Jefferson Park resident says one of his supporters had doorbell camera video of the sign being stolen at a downtown store. In the video you can see what looks like a light gray SUV with black trim. A man gets out and removes not one, but two of Atkins’ signs before driving off.

The first-time candidate was so angry that he filed a police report and shared the video with officers.

“It was actually theft because it wasn’t a right-of-way. It was on private property. This one supporter sent me the actual Ring video, which clearly shows a timestamp of 3:10 a.m. and the perpetrator took both signs. ” recalled candidate Atkins.

East Point Police are currently investigating the early morning robbery.

FOX 5 contacted another candidate in the same race, Jermaine Wright, who says he had the same problem and he praises Atkins for notifying police.

“My signs started disappearing. I noticed that others, like the Atlanta City Council, Commissioners, or other people’s signs, were still there, but only my sign was missing, so I had the same problem. “I had to replace 50 signs.” Candidate Wright confirmed.

Wright says he lost hundreds of dollars on stolen signs and a banner that he says cost his campaign a thousand dollars.

Both candidates hope that the police will find the perpetrators.

“This is also about money. It’s illegal and things like this shouldn’t happen. Candidates in the future need to know that you can’t do that, and if you do, there will be consequences,” Wright reiterated.

“Although this is not a Level 1 felony, it is still theft. This election is very serious. I think the citizens of East Point would want a representative of high moral character. “If this is associated with a candidate, I think citizens would reject that as a representative of their city,” Atkins emphasized.

FOX 5 reached out to all of the candidates in the election. According to the East Point Clerk’s Office, one candidate did not want to be contacted. The fourth candidate has yet to call back.