An attorney for Betta Stothart, the Falmouth woman who wrote about stealing Donald Trump campaign signs for the Washington Post, denied a civil charge against her in Cumberland County Court on Thursday.
Stothart, 52, was charged with one count of wrongful removal of temporary signs, a civil violation, after she and two friends removed approximately 40 Trump/ Pence signs from public rights of way on Route 1 in Falmouth. Under state law, she faces up to a $250 fine per sign, her attorney Benjamin Donahue said.
In the Oct. 25 piece for the Post, Stothart described the anger she felt after listening to comments Trump made about sexually assaulting women during a now-infamous 2005 conversation with Billy Bush, formerly of “Access Hollywood.”
“Getting Trump’s name off our median strip seemed like the best way to express our rage,” she wrote.
So she and two friends jumped into Stothart’s car and drove to Route 1, where they pulled up the signs and threw them into her car. She said it had not occurred to her that the signs were private property until informed by a Falmouth police officer.
Stothart wrote that she was not particularly political but was inspired to act by her own experience of sexual intimidation in the workplace.
Her attorney said they have requested a hearing before a judge and expect to appear again in mid-February.
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