ORANGE PARK, Fla. – A former mayor of the Town of Orange Park found himself in a pickle last month after he was accused of stealing a sign. And we’re not talking baseball.
According to an incident report from the Orange Park Police Department, former mayor Eugene Nix was spotted on surveillance video swiping a campaign sign and swapping it with another candidate’s sign.
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Orange Park Town Council candidate Doug Benefield, 40, reported to Orange Park police on March 25 that one of his campaign signs had been taken, and another had been removed and thrown over a fence.
The sign that was taken near a mailbox at Azaleana Manor, a wedding venue in Orange Park, was replaced with a sign supporting Benefield’s rival, candidate Chuck Lindholm.
When police called Lindholm to ask about the sign swap, he told them to talk to Nix.
The officer investigating called Nix, who admitted he placed the Lindholm sign outside Azaleana Manor but said there “wasn’t another sign there” when he did it.
Video evidence later proved otherwise, police said.
When the officer followed up on March 30, he was able to get video surveillance from Moosehaven, which is across the street from Azaleana Manor.
The incident report said the video shows an older man getting out of white pickup truck in the service entry driveway of Azaleana Manor, placing a campaign sign in the ground next to an existing sign, then removing the existing sign and putting it in the bed of his truck.
Police said the driver was identified as Nix, and the truck was matched to a vehicle owned by Nix.
When police told Benefield who was responsible for the sign theft, he declined to press charges, the report said.