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MIDDLETOWN, Del. (AP) — The husband of a Delaware state senator was arrested after he was caught on video taking down political signs erected by Republicans, authorities said Thursday.
In a video posted to YouTube on Wednesday, Dana Armon Long, whose wife is Democratic state Sen. Bethany Hall-Long of Middletown, is shown carrying a handful of signs to his car. A man with a video camera appears to take Long by surprise and asks him what he's doing. Long unsuccessfully tries to hide behind the signs and says there was no name on the signs.
"We gotcha, brother," the man with the video camera tells Long. "We got your license plate, your face and everything."
The video had about 29,000 views Thursday.
An arrest warrant was issued for Long on Wednesday after police watched the video, Middletown Police Chief Daniel Yeager said. Long turned himself in Thursday, when he was arrested on a theft charge and released on bond, Yeager said.
"The tape doesn't tell a lie," Yeager said.
The charge against Long is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine up to $2,300.
Long was filmed taking signs along the same road where 28 Republican signs were stolen after being erected on Sunday. The signs were replaced and disappeared again Tuesday. The signs that Long was filmed taking were the third round of replacements, according to a Middletown police report.
Hall-Long, who is running against Republican John Marino in Tuesday's election, said in a statement that she was disappointed and that her husband turned the stolen signs over to local Democratic party officials, to be given back to the Republicans.
"Sadly, this race has become tough and personal," Hall-Long said. "My husband is my high school sweetheart and he loves me very much. I was not aware that he had allowed his frustration over the campaign attacks to get the better of him."
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