A retired Columbus State University professor and his pastor wife are under fire over the theft of a non-Democrat political candidate’s signs.
Meet Stephen Acorn, an independent write-in candidate challenging Georgia state House Rep. Debbie Buckner, a Democrat, in the 2026 race.
Even though he’s not even a Republican — we all know how much Democrats loathe the GOP — Acorn nevertheless became a target of leftist retired professor Richard Garrard’s wife, woke pastor Cindy Cox Garrard.
After Acorn’s campaign signs kept disappearing from nearby Matthews Elementary School in Columbus, he decided to pull a clever trick to discover who the perps were, according to Now Georgia.
“I feel like I outsmarted the perpetrator and I got some AirTags,” he reportedly said in a video uploaded to social media. “I cut my campaign signs open, and I put the AirTags within them, and I said I’m just gonna wait and see.”
AirTags are small tracking devices that can be attached to valuable belongings — think keys, wallets, and luggage — and used to track their location.
A day after he placed the AirTags, he received an alert informing him that his campaign signs near Matthews had been picked up and taken to another location. That location turned out to be the home of the Garrards.
When the police arrived at their home, Richard, the professor, seemed to admit that his wife and their daughter had taken the signs.
Watch:
Meet Spencer Garrard, a retired professor at Columbus State University and his wife, a woke reverend.
Police were called after stolen campaign signs for Georgia House candidate Stephen Acorn traced back to their home via airtag.
Watch the full police bodycam footage of them… pic.twitter.com/JPaaRWD2Vi
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 7, 2026
At first, Richard defended the taking of the signs.
“Well, they were illegally placed on the right of way,” he alleged.
“So do you have them?” the police then asked.
“My wife, they’re in the trash probably,” Richard replied.
“Where’s your wife at?” the police asked.
“She said she’s gone to get a massage,” Richard responded.
“Did she take the signs?” the police pressed.
“I imagine either she or my daughter took them,” Richard confessed.
After the confrontation grew tense because Richard “walked up” on the officers twice, they gave him an ultimatum: Turn over the signs immediately or go to jail. Richard chose the former option.
Afterward, Acorn tried to let bygones be bygones on the condition that the couple apologized, but they stubbornly refused. In response, he took to social media again to fully expose them.
“[H]e uploaded a photo of Dr. Cindy Cox Garrard and her husband along with the caption ‘sign snatchers’ to Facebook,” according to Now Georgia.
When asked whether he intends to pursue criminal charges, Acorn vowed that he’s going to pray on it.
“God shows us grace every single day and he commands us to do the same. It’s something I’m going to pray about,” he said.
Many observers have argued that he SHOULD press charges:
Press freaking charges, jeeze the gop needs to grow some balls.
— I unsubscribe (@RobertStillman) September 8, 2026
Democrats need to start going to jail for this stuff, or nothing will change.
— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) September 7, 2026
How is this not election interference? He should be jailed and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
— Yeti (@angryalbinoyeti) September 7, 2026
@StephenAcorn change your mind. Press charges.
People like this need to face real consequences from their actions, and other people like them need to see it.
— James Rogers – Cinematographer; Truth@24fps (@ChronoScopeFilm) September 8, 2026
We’re at the point where someone has to put f*cking air tags on their signs because assholes like this might steal them?
The candidate should have pressed charges -and- broadcasted a statement about it.
F them. They need to pay.
— Throat Warbler Mangrove (@LarsensBiscuits) September 7, 2026
In a statement to Now Georgia, Cindy, the woke pastor, also defended the theft of the signs.
“I thought the signs were illegally placed on public right of way and removed them,” she said. “The signs have been returned.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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