By Ren Turner/ Staff

Candidates for the coveted state senate seat have estimated a loss of over $4,000 from campaign signs that have been unlawfully stolen in various locations throughout the North Fulton district.

After scanning the entire district, Brandon Beach’s campaign manager, Bernie Tokarz, reported 50 large signs stolen from 25 locations at a cost of $1,720.  Tokarz checked with property owners, DOT, and code enforcement to see if any signs had been legally removed. 

After his search turned up empty handed and it was apparent they were dealing with a serious criminal act, the Beach campaign filed police reports with Roswell and Alpharetta.

David Belle Isle was able to confirm 15 large signs missing and he had not checked the entire district yet.  Meditating over his loss of over $500, Belle Isle plans on filing police reports with Roswell and Alpharetta.  The criminal(s) had the audacity to steal a large sign that was positioned directly outside his campaign headquarters.

John Albers doesn’t have any big signs to steal, but estimates that he has lost some 300 small signs at a cost of $2,000.  He has not filed any police reports.

All seem to agree that the culprits move swiftly on targeted nights.  Belle Isle and Beach specifically mentioned this Monday night as the hours of darkness when the majority of their stock was looted.

These crimes come only days before election night, and further tensions in the Republican primary that has been nothing short of a political horse race.

Tokarz expressed his frustration with the perpetrator, “Whoever is stealing these signs is out of money, desperate, and has no support,” he said.

Attributing this as another “lesson of politics,” Albers said, “It hurts big time.  It takes a lot of time and energy to put these signs out.”  Albers remembered that he was warned about things like this before entering the race, but said he never imagined “it would be this bad.”

So far, no one is willing to publically point the finger at any candidate or their overzealous supporters.

This rings as a reminder to those in the political arena about a similar case that occurred in Cherokee County in 2006 where two teenagers working for State Senator Chip Rogers were arrested for stealing their opponent’s signs in a July primary.

Sources familiar with the case cited a jail sentence of three months was handed down to the teens.

According to Georgia law, theft of property in value over $500 is a felony.  In most instances, the penalty for felony theft is imprisonment for 1-10 years.

North Fulton is generally a place prideful of its low crime rate and friendly people.  However, in the face of an intense political primary the switch has been flipped in some that has led to these serious crimes amongst us.

It is not only unethical, but illegal, and there is no room for this childish nonsense in today’s politics.