A Sign Of The Times…
Signs, signs, everywhere there are signs. A unique blight pops up throughout the natural landscape every two years in Clay County. Candidates running for office place their signs everywhere you look.
Along with the signs come another blight, accusations of sign vandalism, and theft of signs. It happens across all of the races in the county, but especially so with School Board races. And even more so with a couple of board members, Janice Kerekes and Tina Bullock.
Every year Bullock and Kerekes run, a magical wind sweeps through the county. The wind wields the supernatural power of knowing right where Bullock and Kerekes’ opponents’ signs are. The wind can also apparently blow precisely and forcefully enough to only blow down the signs of the Board Members’ opponents.
This year the Kerekes and Bullock clan claim that 15 signs have been either stolen or vandalized. But their opponents have had over 200 signs experience the same issues. It sure makes you wonder why the stats are so lopsided.
Behind the scenes, everyone claims to know who is behind sign-stealing shenanigans. But no one is willing to name the alleged perpetrators or provide evidence when pressed. But then came Michele Hanson.
Hanson, who is running against Tina Bullock, has filed several police reports about the issues with her signs. If you have met Hanson, she’s not the sort of person who rolls over and takes harassment. Many candidates in the past have not pressed the issue of stolen signs, making the mystery surrounding the campaign signs very hard to investigate and uncover.
Kerekes and Bullock, never to be outdone in any political showmanship, have attached Apple Airtags to some of their signs. The tags and tree-mounted game cameras have yielded more evidence about the sign thefts than anyone in decades. In a photo reminiscent of the infamous bigfoot photo, a man was allegedly caught by the camera placed near some signs. This person supposedly loaded up said signs and drove off.
But unfortunately for this fella, he absconded with some signs that just so happened to have airtags. The Kerekes clan claims to have used the airtags to track the alleged bandit and alerted CCSO. CCSO somehow caught up with the suspect, but no arrest was made. The investigation continued to determine if charges were warranted.
You ask, how do I know all the details of the Kerekes case? Well, that’s because Kerekes reached out to News4Jax. Reporter and Clay resident Scott Johnson was dispatched to investigate.
Janice Kerekes laid out a case to Johnson that the Erin Skipper campaign was behind the sign theft. Despite having zero evidence from Kerekes to substantiate that claim, Johnson began making calls to folks repeating the allegation that Skipper’s campaign was involved in the thefts.
A story aired on News4Jax shortly after, wherein Johnson wisely left out the baseless accusations against Erin Skipper. But boy did Johnson ever lay on the drama and played peek-a-boo behind a sign to heighten the intrigue. Daytime Emmy award, here he comes!
And that is where things get interesting. People, as they do, started to share the video on Facebook. Known Kerekes supporters arrived in droves on their high horses to show just how victimized Janice and Tina are. Other folks aligned with their opponents pointed out the other campaigns’ issues with signs. There was much blustering but no facts.
Tired of hearing the same hand-wringing about signs every election cycle, I submitted records requests to the Clay County’s Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) for the Kerekes investigation and multiple investigations into Michele Hanson’s sign thefts.
Three of the four police reports provided by CCSO were redacted so heavily that they offered almost no information. These incidents were still considered active investigations. Only one of the three Hason reports was fully intact, as the deputies chalked the damage up to the magical wind that attacks Kerekes opponents, and the case was closed.
With blank reports and no ETA for the resolution of the investigations, it appeared this story was at a standstill. That is until a shrewd observer notices that Scott Johnson’s News4Jax story included some exciting details. In the video, there is a moment where an un-redacted copy of the Kerekes theft report flashes on the screen.
This snippet has just enough details that the suspect was able to be identified. Likely, either Janice Kerekes, Tina Bullock, or someone associated with them provided the report to Scott Johnson. The victims of the crimes would be the only people with an un-redacted, complete copy of the initial report written by CCSO.
As I could not obtain a complete copy of the report, I did not publish the suspect’s name. But then came August 19th, 2022. One Mr. Steven Fitzgerald was arrested for the crime of petty theft. Several anonymous sources close to the investigation confirmed Mr. Fitzgerald as the suspect in the Kerekes/Bullock thefts.
From the time I determined the name of the alleged thief, I combed the internet for details about Mr. Fitzgerald. I found FaceBook and LinkedIn profiles and a handful of other data bits. But what is more interesting is what I did NOT find. No political posts. No connections to current elected officials or people running for office. Most importantly, nothing to substantiate claims from the Kerekes camp that the suspect is connected to her opponent, Erin Skipper.
The real motivation for Mr. Fizgerald’s actions remains to be discovered. Still, there is no basis to believe he was motivated to damage Kerekes and Bullock or assist their opponents.
While the CCSO investigations into Michele Hanson’s sign thefts are ongoing, the Kerekes and Bullock sign heist has come to a rather mundane end.
I will update this story when the Hanson cases have substantive updates.
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