Hazleton mayoral candidate pursued charge over damaged campaign sign

Hazleton mayoral candidate Cindee DeLuca said Tuesday she pursued criminal action against a man for intentionally damaging her campaign sign because she wants to deter others from similar behavior.

“I’m doing this for anyone running. Nobody should have to deal with that,” DeLuca said. “Elections can be very costly, and just because you’re running for a position doesn’t give anyone the right to intimidate you or damage your property.”

DeLuca said she had permission from a Hazle Township property owner to place her campaign sign in front of his business on Route 309 immediately adjacent to the Hazleton boundary line.

She received a call in April informing her that someone was using another sign to destroy hers. She said she reviewed business security footage that showed a man retrieving a sign from the back of his vehicle and using it to “jab through” her sign. He then drove off without placing his sign at the spot.

DeLuca contacted state police and said law enforcement obtained additional footage from Hazleton city’s camera surveillance system, which pointed directly toward her sign, she said. Zooming in, the footage captured the license plate of the suspect vehicle and identified it as belonging to 40-year-old Ronald Lemoine Jr., of Hazle Township, she said.

Lemoine, who could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday, was found guilty of a summary offense of criminal mischief-property damage following a summary trial Monday before Magisterial District Judge David A. Barilla in Forty Fort, records show.

Lemoine was ordered to pay $231, which covered the fine, costs and restitution, records said. He had pleaded not guilty.

The state police citation accused him of intentionally causing $38 in damage to property by placing “a political sign into the campaign sign of another.” Lemoine had pleaded not guilty, and DeLuca said he has 30 days to exercise an option to appeal.

DeLuca said she promptly installed a replacement sign at the Route 309 location and won’t be intimidated by anyone.

“I’m setting the example here that it is not OK to do this,” she said of the sign destruction.

DeLuca filed her paperwork with Luzerne County’s election bureau this week to appear on the Nov. 7 general election ballot as an Independent. She said she obtained more than the required 80 signatures.

Two candidates secured May 16 primary election nominations to appear on the ballot in the city mayoral race: Vianney Castro, a Democrat, and incumbent Mayor Jeff Cusat, a Republican.

As an Independent, DeLuca could not appear on the May primary ballot. Third party candidates must file nomination papers by Aug. 1. She had signs out before the primary because she was seeking write-in votes and wanted to raise awareness about her upcoming candidacy in the mayoral race.

In a separate case, the father of a poll worker was charged in May after police say he was captured on surveillance video taking a sign belonging to Republican county council candidate Ronald D. Knapp from outside the Ward 2 voting area at the IBEW Training Facility, 41 W. Church St., Nanticoke early in the morning of May 16, the day of the primary election.

According to an affidavit filed by Nanticoke police, Paul P. Clisham, 52, of Nanticoke, was seen putting Knapp’s sign into the trunk of the silver 2015 Toyota Camry he was driving after dropping his son off to work at the polls.

A summons was issued charging Clisham with theft by unlawful taking, a third-degree misdemeanor. Court records show a dispositional hearing in the case is set for Aug. 21 before Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough.