UPDATE: Hibbing PD Investigating Woman Removing Flyer From Mailbox, Woman Confessed
UPDATE (October 21, 12:10 p.m.) — The Hibbing woman who was caught on video putting a flyer into a mailbox and taking another one out, has confessed.
Hibbing Police learned that the 61-year-old woman was volunteering to distribute campaign materials. A member from the specific campaign called her after watching the footage and she admitted to taking the pamphlet from the mailbox.
The woman is facing charges of mail theft that could result in a felony with a $5,000 fine and/or a maximum sentence of 3 years.
ORIGINAL POST:
HIBBING, Minn. — The Hibbing Police Department is now investigating a woman seen on video apparently putting a flyer into a mailbox and taking another one out over the weekend.
The video was posted on Facebook by the homeowner on Sunday.
Stealing mail is a federal crime, and a person charged with mail theft faces up to five years in prison and can be fined up to a quarter of a million dollars.
The homeowner and the Minnesota Republican Party both claim that the woman had removed a flyer for Republican Representative Pete Stauber after placing one in for Democratic State Senate candidate Ben Denucci.
These are details FOX21 is still waiting to confirm with police.
Denucci wrote on Twitter that his campaign doesn’t condone mailbox tampering, and his team reached out to Hibbing police and are willing to cooperate.
He later added in a statement that the woman doesn’t work for his campaign, but his team was able to help identify the woman. It’s unclear how they were able to do so.
The Minnesota GOP says they have reported the video to police as well.
Here are statements from Denucci and the GOP:
Denucci campaign: “On Sunday, October 16, the Ben DeNucci for State Senate campaign was made aware of a video that showed a volunteer not affiliated with the campaign unlawfully removing campaign literature from a private mailbox. Ben and the campaign immediately started working to understand what had happened and identify the individual, which took several hours. When the individual was identified, Ben immediately contacted the Hibbing police with the name of the person, and additionally asked his campaign to reach out to encourage the individual to contact the police. Despite misleading claims by the Minnesota Republican party, Ben has taken a proactive role to identify the individual and continues to aid the Hibbing police department in their investigation. In response to these events, Ben released the following statement: ‘As soon as I was made aware that a person distributing my campaign literature had allegedly removed another candidate’s literature, I immediately went to work to identify the individual and circumstances surrounding this incident. Within several hours I learned that the individual was a volunteer from outside the area and not affiliated with our campaign. This person had not undergone the training we require of all of our volunteers, and had acted on their own without any knowledge or direction from our campaign. We encouraged the individual to reach out to the Hibbing Police Department and have worked closely with local law enforcement every step of the way. From the first day I announced my run for office I have been committed to clean campaigning and to fair and unobstructed elections. Tampering with mailboxes while canvassing is wrong, illegal, and not sanctioned by our campaign in any way. While this incident was not the work of one of our own volunteers, I regret that it happened at all. I have instructed my team to take additional precautions to ensure nothing similar happens again, including providing more rigorous training for any person who volunteers for my campaign.”
Minnesota GOP: “It is a shame that Democrats would resort to these kinds of tactics. The fact that Democrats stole mail intended to educate voters about Congressman Pete Stauber’s record shows just how desperate they are. We call on Democrat Ben DeNucci’s campaign to immediately identify the person in the video and cooperate fully with the Hibbing Police Department. In addition, the Republican Party of Minnesota intends to report this incident of mail theft to the United States Postal Service for their investigation as well. Minnesota’s voters deserve better than these kind of underhanded campaign tactics, and will reject them by electing Robert Farnsworth to the State Senate on Nov. 8.” – Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman David Hann
“From fighting against Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi’s reckless spending and crippling inflation to working to protect mining jobs, Congressman Stauber has been a relentless advocate for our way of life in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. Democrats have nothing to offer voters and are now resorting to the lowest of tactics. We hope the Democrats will come clean and cooperate with law enforcement because the citizens of our district deserve nothing less.” – Stauber for Congress Campaign Manager Johnny Eloranta
