Tucson Trump supporter says she's glad sign-swiping has eased

For months, campaign signs she’s put in front of her East River Road home had disappeared or been vandalized, even the ones she used a ladder to install high in a tree.

Larsen estimates at least 40 of the signs have been swiped since February.

The most recent incident occurred on June 8, when Larsen’s husband found a pile of slashed signs next to their driveway.

Larsen first reported the thefts in March, when she says about 25 signs were taken.

“There’s nothing logical about it, just somebody that has nothing else to do,” Larsen said. “They think it’s fun to steal people’s signs. I don’t know what they’re accomplishing with that, really nothing.”

Larsen’s early efforts to identify or deter the sign swiper by using small battery-powered cameras or placing the signs in hard-to-reach places did little to deter the thefts. She even had her son put the signs high in a tree.

Last week, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department made a break in the case, linking a woman to the thefts.

On May 5, shortly after the 26th sign went missing, a passer-by knocked on Larsen’s door reporting he had seen a young woman take a sign and run back to a car.

The man told Larsen he confronted the woman when he saw her taking down several signs and photographed her as she fled.

He gave Larsen the photos, which she promptly turned over to the Sheriff’s Department.

With the photographs in hand, the Sheriff’s Department traced the car to a possible suspect in the case. A photo lineup helped link the suspect to the thefts.

The case could result in misdemeanor theft charges, but as of now, no formal charges have been presented in the case, and the complaint is currently under review by the County Attorney’s Office.

Despite the ongoing investigation, Larsen said the signs continued to disappear until just a few weeks ago.

Larsen says many of her neighbors are Trump supporters who are too afraid to put signs up in their yard, so she “puts signs up for everybody.”