Damaging political campaign signs at a busy North Carolina intersection might have seemed like something nobody would notice. Fayetteville Police say 35-year-old Jeffrey Allen Ivey had an audience he may not have accounted for: the city’s Public Safety Camera Network.
Police received a vandalism report on September 24 after political campaign signs were damaged near Raeford Road and Robeson Street. Investigators with the department’s Property/Fraud Unit and Crime Information Center then turned to footage from the city’s camera network while investigating the case.
The department says investigators were able to use the network to identify Ivey as the suspect. Five days after police received the vandalism report, Ivey was arrested on September 29.
Police charged Ivey with six counts of removing or damaging a political sign. The department said following his arrest that he was being held at the Cumberland County Detention Center without bond.
Several Campaign Signs Damaged
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Local reporting provides additional context about what police found at the intersection, stating that six signs belonging to four candidates had been vandalized. The signs were outside a convenience store near the intersection identified by police, and candidate photos on the signs had been defaced with black marker.
CityView reported that the affected signs belonged to North Carolina House candidate Janene Ackles, Cumberland County Sheriff candidate Troy McDuffie, Superior Court Judge Stephen Stokes and District Court Judge Cheri Siler-Mack. Three of the six vandalized signs belonged to McDuffie, according to the outlet.
All four candidates are Democrats, according to CityView, but Fayetteville Police did not identify a motive in the information released about Ivey’s arrest. The department’s announcement instead focused on the vandalism investigation, the camera network used to identify a suspect, and the six resulting charges.
Jail Records Show Six $0 Bond Entries
Cumberland County jail information provided to Guessing Headlights lists Ivey under booking ID 301132 and confirms his September 29 arrest. The records identify the charge as removing or damaging a political sign and display a $0 bond amount.
The supplied jail information contains six entries for the same political-sign offense, consistent with the six counts announced by Fayetteville Police. Each of the displayed entries carries a $0 bond amount, while police described Ivey as being held on no bond.
Local reporting adds that a magistrate denied Ivey bail because of a separate pending case stemming from August, when he was accused of misusing 911 and resisting arrest. For the September case, however, what began with six damaged campaign signs ended five days later with investigators saying Fayetteville’s own cameras helped them identify the person they were looking for.