This mom caught stealing campaign signs

Jane Contis, president of the Parent Faculty Club at A.E. Wright Middle School, was caught removing the campaign signs of Denis Weber, Bill Koehler, and Harry Schwarz in Old Agoura on Mon., Nov. 7, the night before the Agoura Hills City Council election.

Sharon Robinson, an attorney and a member of the Old Agoura Homeowners Association board of directors, said she confronted Contis and her children at around 7 p.m. as they were taking the signs from private property on both sides of Driver Avenue in Old Agoura and loading them into a Cadillac Escalade.

Robinson said as she stopped to confront Contis about her actions, a deputy from Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station appeared on the scene. Contis, who admitted taking the signs, was told by the deputy to put them back.

Robinson later called the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station and filed a report. Theft of a campaign sign is considered a criminal misdemeanor, according to a Sheriff’s spokesperson.

Contis, a resident of the Mountain View Estates in Calabasas, said she took the signs to place on her friend’s lawn as a joke. The friend, Roberta Goldman, could not be reached for comment.

Robinson said she didn’t see the humor in sign stealing, especially since a rash of thefts had already been reported during the campaign.

Koehler, who won a seat on the city council, filed an earlier report with the Sheriff when some of his signs had been stolen. Dave Moorman, who was elected to the Las Virgenes Unified School Board of Education, also filed a complaint about stolen signs.

“What galls me is that she would have her kids in tow,” said Robinson. “The kids were on one side of Driver and she was on the other loading signs into her Cadillac Escalade.”

Robinson said that Contis called to apologize for her behavior and assured Robinson that all signs would be returned.