By Meghann M. Cuniff, Special to the Independent
A man accused of stealing “No on P” campaign signs last fall has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of petty theft, six months after a neighbor said he caught the so-called “Bentley Bandit” red-handed.
James Ray Kretzschmar is accused of stealing the signs last October, amid the contentious battle over the proposed 1 percent sales tax for emergency response services and fire safety measures such as undergrounding evacuation routes.
Voters rejected it on Nov. 6, which was a victory for Laguna resident Jennifer Zeiter, an attorney who founded Stop Taxing Our Property to campaign against the measure.
Now, Zeiter and her supporters are claiming another victory after the Orange County District Attorney’s Office charged Kretzschmar after months of inaction.
Zeiter described herself as “very excited.”
“That’s the only reason he’s being prosecuted, is because we refused to let him go,” Zeiter said. “We continued to push and press and write to the district attorney.”
Zeiter tried to watch Kretzschmar’s arraignment Wednesday at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, but it was rescheduled to May 9. He’s retained a private attorney, David Medina, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Kretzschmar also could not be reached for comment by the Indy’s deadline.
Police identified Kretzschmar as a suspect in the thefts after Laguna resident Bryan Menne said he spotted Kretzschmar swiping signs, then followed him through the city while relaying his location to officers. Officers retrieved several signs from Kretzschmar’s 2006 Bentley, but he was not arrested or cited.
They returned the signs to Menne, who was part of Zeiter’s group and had been investigating missing signs. Several dozen had been gone missing over several weeks, so Menne said he decided to stake out the most common location and see if he could spot the thief in action.
He’d finished breakfast at Ruby’s Diner and was in his truck when he saw a Bentley stop on Coast Highway, and the driver get out and take the signs. Menne said he ran across the highway to snap photos, and he told Kretzschmar, “You’re so busted, man.”
Menne said he believes the case is solid.
“I’ve got pictures, and I’m here to testify,” he said.
