SMITHFIELD, Va. — A Smithfield town councilwoman is facing a misdemeanor charge after police say she was involved in stealing another candidate's campaign signs.
Councilwoman Renee Rountree is charged with receiving stolen goods. She is currently running for Isle of Wight County's Board of Supervisors. While she is the only candidate on the ballot for District 1, community organizer Chris Torre has organized a write-in campaign.
The investigation began on Oct. 8 when the Smithfield Police Department received a complaint that Chris Torre's campaign signs had been removed from two separate locations.
According to the police report, after some of the signs went missing on Oct. 4, a campaign worker hid an AirTag tracking device on a replacement sign. A few days later, that sign went missing and the Torre campaign worker was able to track the AirTag to Rountree's home.
Rountree allegedly contacted Torre about the missing signs and said her son-in-law had picked up some of the signs and put them in her garage to keep them safe. The police report said Rountree claimed her son-in-law was doing a "public service" because the signs were allegedly in the right of way, and that she was going to return them to the area behind the treasurer's office.
Police reviewed surveillance footage at the corner of Main Street and South Church Street that showed a Torre campaign sign and a Rountree campaign sign both sitting next to each other in a flowerbed. Police said Rountree's campaign sign was closer to the road than Torre's sign and neither were leaning over into the right of way. A video clip later showed a man picking up the Torre sign and walking away with it.
Torre told police some of his campaign signs had been disappearing "for a while" recently and he knew his campaign staff had put a tracking device in one that "wound up in my opponent's garage."
Police visited Rountree's home. Rountree was not home at the time, but her husband allowed an officer to search, who eventually found two Chris Torre campaign signs inside a crawl space. One of the signs had the AirTag device on it.
According to the police report, Rountree apologized for the "misunderstanding" and that signs removed from the right of way are typically put behind the treasurer's office for candidates to pick up.
On Oct. 11, Smithfield police charged Rountree with receiving stolen goods and also charged her son-in-law, Jesse Hanson, with larceny. Both charges are class 1 misdemeanors.
In a statement posted on Facebook, Rountree said she is cooperating with the investigation and that "I maintain my innocence in this matter, but on advice of my counsel will not make any further statements at this time."
Police said they are continuing to investigate.
