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BELPRE -- A man accused of stealing political signs urging people to vote against the recent school bond renewal in Belpre will be appearing in Marietta Municipal Court Friday.
Last week, Marcus T. McCartney, 45, 719 Clement Ave., Belpre, appeared in Belpre Mayor's Court on a charge of theft in relation to the taking of a number of political signs around Civitan Park urging people to vote no on the Belpre School Levy that was on the ballot March 19.
During the hearing in Mayor's Court, McCartney asked for the case to be moved to Marietta Municipal Court. A hearing is scheduled at 9 a.m. Friday.
According to police reports on Sunday, March 17, Ptl. D.L. Walters of the Belpre Police Department responded to Civitan Park in reference to a theft of political signs reported earlier that day, according to the report written by Walters.
"The caller stated he was out putting signs back up at the park and a male came up and admitted to stealing the signs he had reported missing that morning," Walters said in his report.
Sam Stewart, of Belpre, reported there were 21 signs missing Friday night, March 15, according to his written statement. On March 17 he was back at the park replacing at least 17 signs, according to the statement.
A man at the park told Stewart that he removed all the signs Friday night and he would come to the park and remove the signs he was replacing, according to Stewart's statement.
Another witness, Gary Collins, wrote in a statement to police he was at the park helping Stewart replace the signs. A man pulled in and was very confrontational about the signs and became belligerent and said he would take them down as soon as they left.
"I asked him if he removed all the signs and he said 'yes and I'm going to take these,''' Collins wrote. "I told him to vote for the levy if he wanted and we could vote against it but he just kept cursing and asked if I wanted to do something about it. At that time we called the police.''
Collins wrote the man started videoing their exchange and he indicated he was going to post to Facebook and the police couldn't do anything to him.
Another witness, Harlen Colvin, wrote he saw the man walking around the park on March 16 but did not see him do anything. The next day, he was back at the park and saw the same man talking to police.
Walters wrote the person was eventually identified as Marcus T. McCartney through a driver's license after initially refusing to give any identification and stating "he had not committed any crimes and was not required to do so," according to the report, adding a check showed he was valid and had no warrants.
McCartney or an attorney representing him could not be reached for comment.