A Falmouth woman who removed Donald Trump campaign signs from along Route 1 last fall was convicted and fined $250 this week.
Elizabeth Stothart took the case to trial in Cumberland County District Court even though she had admitted taking the signs in a guest column for The Washington Post.
A jury found her guilty of the civil infraction after a short trial Thursday.
In the column, Stothart wrote that she and two friends were angry about the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about groping women. They responded by pulling up about 40 Trump signs in the median of Route 1 in Falmouth and throwing them in the back of Stothart’s car.
She said they were stopped by a Falmouth police officer who saw them taking the signs and pointed out that they were stealing someone else’s property, “which had not really entered my mind while I was doing it,” Stothart wrote.
The officer took the signs and police contacted the man who put up the signs and he opted to press charges.
Stothart wrote that she ultimately determined that she had “momentarily snapped” in the heat of the election campaign and her anger over reports of Trump’s treatment of women.
The other two women charged in the case settled their civil charges this year by making donations to charities.
Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:
emurphy@pressherald.com
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