Menifee man says stealing signs was a good deed

[ilbegone]

Menifee man says stealing signs was a good deed

September 17, 2010

By JULISSA McKINNON

A man cited for stealing campaign signs earlier this week said he thought he was cleaning up litter.

"I had no idea it was called theft. To me it's the same thing as picking up a McDonald's hamburger wrapper off the ground," said James Rzepka, 61. "I could care less about politics."

Rzepka was arrested Sunday for driving off with seven Menifee City Council candidate signs that he had uprooted from the corner of Murrieta Road and Thornton Avenue, police said.

Carol "Red" Sullivan, who is running for Menifee's District 4 seat, called 911 after her husband, Michael Stout, spotted Rzepka tossing signs into his car. Stout said he confronted Rzepka and then followed him to write down his license plate number.

Rzepka said Friday that Stout stalked him around the block three times before rear-ending him. Rzepka later called police. An officer went to his home to check his car Monday but took no report, said Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Harry Cohen.

Rzepka, who previously ran and served as treasurer for the Sun City Civic Association, said he believes he has been wrongly accused because the penal code for petty theft refers to "stealing from a merchant."

He also questioned Sullivan's statement that some of her signs cost up to $100.

"When I was running for the Sun City Civic Association, my signs were one dollar apiece," he said.