ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY, Va. — A Smithfield councilwoman running for the Isle of Wight's Board of Supervisors has been charged in connection to stealing a political opponent's campaign signs after they were allegedly found in her crawl space.
According to a police report, the signs were found in Renee Rountree's home after an Apple AirTag was placed on a write-in candidate's sign.
While Rountree is the only name on the ballot for District 1, Chris Torre is running as a write-in candidate.
Torre said his campaign team decided to put an AirTag on one of his signs after finding out some of the campaign signs were taken over the last few weeks.
"Sure enough it [the sign with the airtag] was stolen like all the other ones had been, and it was tracked to a home residence down the street here," Torre said.
According to a police report two signs were in the home of Rountree.
"It's disturbing, you know you spend some money, and you take some time, and you make the effort and you put the signs out, and then all of a sudden someone takes them and they're gone," Torre said. "That kind of hurts your feelings."
According to the police report, Rountree said her son-in-law picked up the signs as a prank and that she had stored the signs under her house until she could return the signs to the treasurer's office.
She later told police that's where any signs that are in "a right of way" are taken, meaning signs in the public's way.
Torre said those signs were outside of a neighborhood and another was outside of a downtown Smithfield coffee shop.
"To really want to serve that much is admirable but to be willing to go that far to do something illegal in order to do it is not very smart," Robert Dolensky, a Smithfield resident, said.
In a statement on her campaign Facebook page, Rountree said she maintains her innocence in the matter.
While this situation is unfortunate for our community, it does not distract me from my efforts to serve Smithfield and ultimately the citizens of Isle of Wight County.
After consultation with the Isle of Wight County Commonwealth's Attorney, Jesse Hanson, Rountree's son-in-law, is charged with larceny.
Rountree is charged with receiving stolen goods.
Charges for both Roundtree and her son are class 1 misdemeanors.
