Laura Ebert, 54, was filmed on a home’s security camera stealing two Republican posters on a stranger’s front lawn in Rosendale, New York
A New York professor has been arrested after she was caught on camera ripping off then stealing two pro-Republican signs perched on a stranger’s front lawn.
Laura Ebert, a 54-year-old lecturer at State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, was caught on Rosendale’s home’s security camera swiping the signs endorsing Republican Rep. John Faso and GOP gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro.
Video of her theft on October 30 shows Ebert driving up to the house and rolling slightly onto their front lawn in her red pick-up truck with the trunk open.
In the clip Ebert seems determined as she charges towards the two signs, rips them from their post, and throws them into her open trunk.
After the signs went missing homeowners Patrick and Lisa McGovern checked their security camera footage and brought it to police.
On October 30 she snatched the signs endorsing Republican Rep. John Faso and GOP gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro and threw them into her car
She pulled up the stranger’s home, grabbed the signs, then sped off in her car
Little did she know her entire stunt was caught on the Rosendale home’s security camera
Ebert has been charged with misdemeanor larceny for her anti-conservative stunt by the Rosendale Town Police Department.
The theft took place in Rosendale, about eight miles from her college.
Lisa McGovern shared the hilarious video on November 1 on Twitter writing: ‘My signs for #NY19 @JohnFasoNY and @MarcMolinaro were just stolen from my front lawn.’
‘It’s crazy in our area lately. It’s never been like this. People are getting over-emotional,’ Lisa, a registered Independent, said to Fox News.
But when she found out that the thief was a local professor, she couldn’t help but laugh.
Making a break for it: She threw the signs into the open truck of her red vehicle
She said: ‘I meant no personal harm, and don’t know the person whose lawn the sign was on. I have family I love that support Trump, so I was after the sign, not the person’
‘I kind of thought it was funny in a way, because of the times, you hear about stories of the professors being very liberal and not allowing people with conservative or Republican views to speak…almost like trying to shut down my voice, which seems antithetical to what a professor should be doing because we should all have a voice,’ she said.
Ebert says that she was overcome with emotion when she drove off with the signs. She said never intended to harm McGovern, a stranger, or anyone in the home.
She defended her name in an interview with Campus Reform saying ‘I did it in a moment of weakness and high emotion’.
‘I meant no personal harm, and don’t know the person whose lawn the sign was on. I have family I love that support Trump, so I was after the sign, not the person,’ she added.
Ebert was charged with misdemeanor larceny for her anti-conservative stunt and is set to appear in court on November 13
‘I have apologized and feel bad, but clearly the GOP is putting a big deal [of] spin on this. Many signs have been taken and disfigured, which, while no excuse for my bad behavior, doesn’t warrant the death threats I have received on my email about it. Nor the smear campaign after me including notifying my supervisor,’ she said.
According to her police report she’s set to appear in court on November 13.
It’s unclear if she continued her sign-stealing rampage and targeted other homes as well.
Lisa McGovern said on Twitter that Ebert allegedly ‘denied everything’ in the incident and threw all the signs in a ditch on the side of the road.