A Professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville was arrested on Sunday and charged with a misdemeanor for stealing conservative political signs.
Dr. Amanda Wray, an associate professor who holds a Ph.D., turned herself into the local police on Sunday morning after she and another unidentified woman were allegedly spotted stealing conservative political signs, according to WLOS-TV.
The signs, which belong to the local Political Action Committee (PAC) Angry Buncombe Taxpayers, have been defaced throughout the county by unknown vandals.
In a Facebook post from October 3, the PAC’s treasurer, Mike Summey, shared photos of the defaced political signs, adding that they have served their purpose by exposing the behavior of those who support the Democrats in the county.
“They [the signs] have also exposed the vile and destructive conduct of those who support this corruption by defacing, destroying and stealing the signs,” wrote Summey, “New signs will start going up this week that urge votes to ‘Stop Theft and Corruption’ by voting Republican and giving the other party the opportunity [to] straighten out this mess.”
Two days later, Summey was driving home and noticed that some of the PAC’s signs were missing from the side of the road. As he kept driving, he spotted a woman walking down the road, carrying signs, who then stopped to uproot yet another sign paid for by the committee.
Summey told Breitbart News that as he pulled over to confront the woman, he noticed there was another woman assisting the first, who he identified as Dr. Wray.
“I informed them that they were breaking the law and that I’d call the police, but they kept walking.” Summey told Breitbart News.
“We’re just trying to put a message out there, and here we have a professor at a publicly funded university trying to shut it down. It’s a violation of our First Amendment rights, and we’re paying her salary.” He added.
Dr. Wray’s alleged conduct is a “Class 3 misdemeanor for a person to steal, deface, vandalize, or unlawfully remove a political sign that is lawfully placed under the section,” according to state statute.
“What is a 38 year old woman with a doctorate degree doing out stealing signs at 10:00 at night?” Wrote Summey on Facebook, “What does this say to our young people she is supposed to teaching and to the community about some of the people working at our local university?”
A UNC Asheville spokesperson confirmed with Breitbart News that Dr. Wray is an employee of the university, adding that her arrest is “an issue between a citizen of Asheville and city law enforcement” and that they have no further comment.
Dr. Wray teaches several courses at the University of North Carolina Asheville, both entry-level and honors level, including one 300-level course titled: “Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo and on Instagram.