ALEXANDRIA, Minn — A couple has been charged in Alexandria after the police found hundreds of stolen signs on their property.
Court documents say 53-year-old Judd Hoff, who is a DFL candidate running for the Minnesota House of Representatives, has been charged with receiving stolen property and aiding and abetting felony theft.
The candidate's wife Wendy Hoff has been charged with felony theft.
A worker at a local gun shop saw a woman snatching political signs from the lawn outside and said he snapped a photo that she actually she posed for before driving away with the signs in her van.
"They're mad. They're frustrated," Alexandria Police Chief Scott Kent told KARE 11.
Chief Kent said his department received a number of similar reports describing the same suspect stealing signs between approximately July 10 and Aug. 3. They obtained a search warrant from a Douglas County judge and raided the Judds' home on Le Homme Dieu Heights Northeast.
Criminal complaints filed against the Hoffs say large piles of signs were in plain view in the backyard on the property and even more signs were found inside the garage. Many of the stolen signs were painted over with black paint, and then adored with a new message - "Vote Hoff, State Representative 12B" - an apparent attempt to boost Judd's campaign, according to the charging documents.
Prosecutors describe a pattern of sign thefts, which a preliminary investigation suggests cost nearly $5,000, meeting the threshold for felony charges.
An update from Alexandria police Monday said both Judd and Wendy Hoff were arrested on Saturday during a traffic stop.
On his Facebook page, Judd Hoff said what his wife did is perfectly legal, and asserted that the search warrant Alexandria police executed on his home was "illegally obtained."
"We watched them remotely on our cameras as they violated our Fourth Amendment rights and illegally entered into our home, and illegally seized OUR property, some 240 signs," Judd Hoff posted.
"We are putting together a lawsuit and will be suing them for a civil rights violation. Their illegal and unconstitutional, fascist scare tactics won't impress the federal judges in Fergus Falls, and there are dozens of legal precedents and rulings that anyone can easily refer to on this issue. They dont have a leg to stand on. Nothing was stolen, and Wendy was careful to document her own actions so that she could prove later that the signs were all in the public right of way."
Hoff said in the post that he and his wife are contacting both the U.S. Department of Justice and the State Attorney General's office.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.