City councillor arrested for stealing political posters: matter was ‘too trivial’ to be prosecuted

A judge in New Jersey will rule next month on whether stealing campaign signs is a crime, which could lead to the legalization of campaign sign stealing in future election campaigns.

Readington City Councilman John Albanese was arrested in May after stealing six signs from a rival faction in the Republican primary. The signs had Apple Air Tags attached to them that could be traced back to Albanese's home.

Now Albanese, a former mayor, is demanding that the theft charges be dropped under the state minimal law if a judge finds the offense was “too trivial” to warrant prosecution. In court papers, he compared the charges against him to a 1984 ruling that dismissed shoplifting charges against a defendant who stole three 15-cent sticks of gum.

“A review of all the factors in this case shows that there is little merit in pursuing this minor offense,” Albanese's attorney Scott Wilhelm said in court documents. “Mr. Albanese is charged with theft for taking six political signs, which, as stated, he did not damage and which were promptly returned to their rightful owner. No harm was caused to persons or property in this incident.”

If Supreme Court Justice Kevin Shanahan agrees, overzealous volunteers will have little incentive to leave a political sign up.

“This is a clear case of theft,” said Brian R. Clancy, Ewing Township's chief prosecutor, in a court document. “The case at hand is not trivial. Even though the monetary value of the property is not substantial, a victim was nevertheless robbed of his property.”

Clancy said the stolen signs were “related to a public election involving political opponents.”

“This conduct is well within the established understanding of a crime of moral turpitude. In assessing the risk of harm to society, as required by law, the court cannot fail to consider the impact of this conduct on the fair and open electoral process,” Clancy argues. “Allowing a dismissal under the minimal The law in this case undermines public trust and does not provide a deterrent to such behaviour in the future.”

Albanese admitted to taking the signs.

“I removed six political signs from two public roadsides in Readington Township that I do not own and stored them in my garage at my home. In doing so, I did not damage the signs. Rather, I stored them safely. “I made no threats of harm or violence,” Albanese said in court documents. “I simply removed the signs in a weak moment of indecision.”

Albanese said he was “of the opinion that the people who put up the signs did not have the right to put the signs in the appropriate locations and that those signs posed a danger to the public.”

“In hindsight, I realize that regardless of how I felt or what I was thinking, I did not have the right to remove signs that did not belong to me,” he said. “I had no intention of upsetting or hurting anyone… I acknowledge my mistake. I am sorry. I take full responsibility for my actions.”

However, Clancy argues that Albanese failed to realize that without tracking device surveillance – and the immediate intervention of Readington police – “the signs would likely never have been returned to the victim.”

The case was assigned to Ewing to avoid the conflict of interest of the Readington Municipal Court. minimal The defense will be heard in Superior Court; if Shanahan denies Albanese's motion, the case will return to Ewing Municipal Court Judge Kimberly M. Lacken.

Republicans in Readington are deeply divided between a conservative faction and a group of moderates that includes Albanese. The two groups have been engaged in a local civil war since 2022, when three-term township committeewoman Betty Anne Fort, a Republican who vehemently opposes Donald Trump, lost the primary 2-1 to conservative Vinny Panico, a former president of the Hunterdon Central Regional Board of Education who dropped out of the primary with the blessing of party leadership.

Fort supported Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) over Republican Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) in 2020 and donated $7,900 to his 2020 and 2022 campaigns, costing her re-election.

In the June primary election, incumbents Jürgen Hülsebusch and Adam Müller easily defeated two candidates endorsed by Albanese, former mayor Benjamin Smith and Jacqueline Hindle, a member of the Planning Board.

There have been repeated allegations of sign theft in recent years – in 2022, some Republicans were caught stealing Kean signs after being monitored by a hunting camera.

The conservative faction was fed up with this game and set up an independent undercover operation.

They decided to attach Apple AirTags with a sharp anti-Malinowski message to repurposed signs from Kean's 2022 campaign and place them next to Smith and Hindle's signs.

Using AirTags, the group was able to ping the sign to determine its exact location.

The opposition followed the signal to Albanese's house. Panico called a police sergeant to report the theft. There they found the six anti-Malinowski signs and arrested Albanese.