State Rep. Anne Hughes was charged last week with sixth-degree larceny after police said she took several yard signs supporting Darrell Harris and traced them back to her with an AirTag. Hughes apologized in a Facebook post on Saturday and said she should have complained about the signs to local police or to Harris's campaign.
The signs were found along Judd Road and state Route 59, police said. Matt Ritter said Monday that he had spoken with Hughes and that there would be no disciplinary action beyond that. He said, "I've talked to Rep. Hughes and been assured this won't happen again," and added, "We move on."
Matt Ritter and Hughes
Ritter's response stops at a conversation, not a formal House penalty. Hughes told him the sign-taking was a one-time occurrence, and he said that was the end of the matter on his side.
Hughes represents Easton, Redding and Weston, and the case landed quickly because police said they used an AirTag to trace the signs back to her. That left a straightforward question for anyone watching the signs along the roadside: where they were placed, and who took them, became part of a criminal case instead of a neighborhood dispute.
Judd Road and state Route 59
The Department of Transportation has warned campaigns that political signs are not allowed on state property, including highways, roadways, railways, transit facilities and rights-of-way. It said signs found on state property would be collected and stored in nearby DOT facilities.
Easton town ordinances say political signs are acceptable along town-owned roads after Labor Day, but they also require signs to be removed immediately after elections. Those rules matter here because Hughes said the signs were on public property, while police said they were on the roadside and tied to her by the AirTag.
What remains at the center of the case is the scale of the alleged taking and whether anything more follows. Police said several signs were taken, Hughes apologized, and Ritter said the House will not add discipline beyond the conversation he already had with her.
