State Attorney Will Not Bring Charges in Sign Theft Case

HOLMES BEACH – During the Republican primary for the Manatee County Commission District 6 seat, eventual winner Jason Bearden filed a criminal complaint against his opponent, incumbent Carol Whitmore, for removing campaign signs of Bearden's at two locations. State Attorney Susan Lopez recently informed Governor DeSantis that her office has declined to bring charges against Whitmore.

At issue, were signs taken from two locations, a property Commissioner Whitmore believed to be owned by Shawn Kaleta and another that was a City of Holmes Beach right of way. Whitmore contacted Mr. Kaleta who acknowledged to Lopez having told her that he had not given anyone permission to put signs on any of his many properties on the island.

It turned out that the signs Whitmore removed, however, were not on one of the approximately 200 properties on the island owned by Kaleta, but rather one of around 1,200 that his company manages. Whitmore said that an accompanying sign for Kaleta's business led her to believe it was one he owned.

Lopez wrote that the "good faith" defense applied and that, "The State cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant possessed the criminal intent to steal the signs."

As per the second property, Whitmore believed that a city ordinance preventing such postings was in effect at the time she took the signs and turned them into the city's police department. However, the law had been determined to be unconstitutional, a fact that Lopez indicated was not known by police officers at the time Whitmore turned the signs in and only became known to them when the city attorney informed them after the fact.

"While I believe that Ms. Whitmore should have left the signs where they were and reported the perceived illegal posting to proper authorities to handle, I do not believe that we can prove a theft beyond a reasonable doubt," wrote Lopez.

Click here to read Lopez's letter to the governor in its entirety.