MONTVILLE — The Montville Police Department along with the Montville Resident Trooper said they are investigating a suspicious incident that has been deemed a risk to public safety.
Police said on Thursday afternoon the Montville Public Works Department discovered a number of local political road side signs that had been tampered with by placing squares of plywood which had large metal nails protruding upwards.
“The devices were under signs that were on the shoulder of the road and were concealed with loose grass to avoid detection. This posed a risk to pedestrians and to vehicles,” said police.
FOX61 reached out to Lt. Bunnell of Montville police who said they are investigating at least three signs that have nails attached to them. Lt. Bunnell added that he has reached out to the politicians from both parties.
Lt. Bunnell said the signs have been removed and they are looking for additional signs due the safety of the public. His concern is a jogger, walker or kid will stumble on it and get injured.
Lt. Bunnell said he believes this is a result of people trying to prevent signs from being tampered with and sign tampering is traditional around election time.
FOX61 also reached out to Republican Joseph Aquitante III who is running for school board in Montville, said he has no information on who might have tampered with his sign.
Aquitante III said they’ve had problems in the past with sign tampering and that several hundred dollars have been spent to purchase deer cams to see if they can spot who is stealing signs.
FOX61 also reached out to Wills Pike who is running for GOP Town Council. Pike said he didn’t know anything about the nail issue but did say that they have problems with signs being stolen and mentioned they had caught someone messing with their signs.
Police ask if anyone has any information regarding this incident, to call Lt. Bunnell at 860-892-6107 or Resident Trooper Sergeant Mark Juhola at 860-848-7040.
Police said the tip line may also be called at 860-892-6191.
