Police issued an arrest warrant for the husband of Delaware State Sen. Bethany Hall-Long Wednesday after Republican volunteers captured him stealing political campaign signs on video.

Local members of the First State Liberty PAC and Republican Party, who posted video of the incident to Youtube, stated that repeated sign thefts in the city of Middletown prompted several members to begin monitoring the area after dark.

At around 4 a.m. Wednesday morning, only two hours after the group arrived, a man was seen collecting signs and attempting to load them into his vehicle. Caught in the act, the man, later identified as Dana Long, began justifying the theft by falsely claiming that the signs had “no names” on them.

“Property of the Republican Party!” one volunteer said, reading from the sign.

“We got you, brother! We got the license plate, your face, and everything,” another volunteer added.

After reporting the incident, the group was informed that the license plate and description of the suspect matched that of State Sen. Long’s husband.

Unable to locate the suspect, Middletown Police issued a warrant for Long’s arrest, charging him with Class A misdemeanor theft. If convicted, Long could face up to a year in prison and a fine of $2,300.

Although Long refused to speak due to the “advice of counsel,” Long’s wife issued a short statement following the video’s release.

My husband is the man depicted in the video. The video shows him removing a handful of signs this morning. He turned them over to the Democratic Party and asked that they be returned to the Republican Party about six hours after they were taken up. Sadly, this race has become tough and personal. 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. Of course I’m disappointed and wish that it had not happened.

John Fluharty, the state’s GOP executive director, argued that the encounter merely reflected the Democratic Party’s continued corruption and failure.

“When you only have a track record of high taxes, unemployment and lower wages for private sector employees to stand on, the Democrats must resort to breaking the law to win elections because they are scared of being held accountable for their dismal performance,” Fluharty wrote.

Whether the incident will sway the upcoming election remains to be seen.

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