Posted: Oct 23, 2012 5:00 PM EDT Updated: Oct 24, 2012 3:45 PM EDT



A Charlottesville business owner vows to catch vandals who have ripped his Romney-Ryan signs out of the ground, not once, not twice, but three times. Stealing political signs is almost like an election season sport. It's also a crime, and one was caught on camera by a surveillance camera at the Preston Avenue Shell gas station in Charlottesville. Conservative radio talk show host Rob Schilling released the video from just after midnight on September 27. The guy pulls up to the pump to fill up his Volvo. He strolls off and starts a little jog to the street corner. The Romney-Ryan campaign sign comes down. He takes it over to his car, and struggles a bit to fold it up and fit it in the backseat, and then the thief takes off. Wesley Gfroerer, the Preston Shell station owner, said, "You're vandalizing private property. I wouldn't do that at your house. I don't expect you to come to my establishment and do that kind of thing. It's pretty annoying." The gas station's owner says this is the third time someone's taken down the 8-by-4 sign. It was kicked down the first time. The replacement was the stolen one caught on camera. And the owner says Monday night, someone kicked over the third sign, which was reinforced with a wood plank backing. Charlottesville police say they have not received an official criminal complaint from the store's owner. Investigators consider this a petit larceny, punishable by a $2,500 fine and a year in jail.

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Caught on Camera: Romney Sign Stolen - NBC29 WVIR Charlottesville, VA News, Sports and Weather