Police close ‘mayor sign caper case’

Monday, June 13, 2005 | 9:28 a.m.

North Las Vegas Police won't pursue criminal charges against members of the campaign of Andres Ramirez who took down Mayor Mike Montandon's campaign signs.

Police spokesman Tim Bedwell said the department has closed the "mayor sign caper case" because there is no proof a theft occurred.

On May 19, Montandon's campaign filed a police report accusing Ramirez's campaign of stealing the re-election signs. Ramirez denied the accusation and during the initial days of the investigation, police said they had found that a majority of the 48 signs taken by the challenger were removed with the permission of homeowners.

"We can't prove there was a crime," Bedwell said. "It doesn't matter if anybody had any permission or not. If you take someone's property with the intent to deprive them of it, it is a crime. If you take it to give it back, it's not larceny."

The signs were taken during a heated campaign in which accusations between the candidates flew. Montandon won last Tuesday with 59 percent of the vote.

Ramirez said his campaign took down the Montandon signs and replaced them with his at the request of homeowners. He said he even contacted Montandon's campaign that he had Montandon's signs.

Montandon's campaign said some homeowners told them that the switch had been made without their permission.

Bedwell said the signs are property of the candidates and not the homeowners, and residents can't file a theft report.

As for the fact that the closure of the 3-week-old case by the police department, which has its budget set by Montandon and the rest of the North Las Vegas City Council, came three days after Montandon won re-election, Bedwell said that was only coincidental. The timing had nothing to do with Tuesday's election, Bedwell said.

After the first day or two when it was determined what likely had happened, pursuing the case wasn't a high priority, Bedwell said.

"The first day we didn't know what we were dealing with," Bedwell said. "Once we figured it out, it quickly became clear where the signs were and we found the person who took them. It was just a matter of doing the follow-up and finding out whether a crime occurred."

At the time, Ramirez accused the mayor's campaign of wasting city resources by filing the complaint.

Montandon campaign manager Steve Wark said that police are so busy it's unfortunate there was enough evidence of wrongdoing to prompt and investigation in the first place. The mayor previously said he wanted the case dropped after he got his signs back, and Wark said he understands police not wanting to pursue the case.

"This certainly doesn't vindicate Mr. Ramirez," Wark said. "He had a lack of character and ethics in how he campaigned."

Ramirez wasn't available for comment on the closure of the case. He previously accused Montandon of lying, negative campaigning and wasting taxpayer dollars by filing a police report.