Campaign signs for Stephen Acorn, a conservative independent candidate in Columbus, Georgia kept vanishing near Matthews Elementary School and County Line Road. So the candidate did what any reasonable person in 2026 would do — he stuck Apple AirTags inside the replacement signs and waited.
Within 24 hours, the trackers pinged.
The signs led police straight to the home of Richard Spencer Garrard, a retired Columbus State University lecturer in middle-grades education, and his wife, Rev. Dr. Cindy Cox Garrard. Four of candidate Acorn's campaign signs were recovered from the Garrards' garbage. Acorn is running as a conservative-leaning independent write-in candidate against Democrat incumbent Debbie Buckner for Georgia House District 137.
Here's what makes this more than a neighborly disagreement over yard signs: election records show Rev. Dr. Cindy Cox Garrard donated directly to Buckner's campaign. So the signs weren't being removed by some random crank with an aesthetic objection to yard clutter. They were being removed by a financial supporter of the opposing candidate.
Garrard's defense? He claimed the signs were "illegally placed on public right-of-way." Which is an interesting legal theory from a man who chose to take them home and throw them in his own garbage rather than, say, report the alleged violation to the county. If the signs were really on public right-of-way, the appropriate response is a phone call to code enforcement — not a late-night collection run that ends with the evidence in your trash can.
Under Georgia law, stealing campaign signs is punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Acorn has requested the responding officers' body camera footage through an open records request. When asked about pressing charges, Acorn said he would "pray about pursuing criminal charges" — which is a considerably more gracious response than most of us would manage after catching a professor and a reverend red-handed in a petty theft scheme.
A retired university lecturer in education. A reverend. A documented campaign donor. These aren't teenagers pulling a prank on a dare. These are credentialed adults who apparently decided that the democratic process works best when one side's message ends up in a garbage bag.
The whole thing cost Acorn about $29 per AirTag and a day of patience. It cost a retired professor and his reverend wife their anonymity, a police visit, and whatever's left of the assumption that the people with advanced degrees and clerical titles are the ones who respect the rules.
District 137 voters now know exactly how much faith the Buckner donor base has in their candidate's ability to win on the merits.