LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — An arrest report obtained by Channel 13 alleges a 73-year-old man who vandalized at least 60 political signs across Clark County was driven by hatred for California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Additional details about the investigation are being revealed after police announced the arrest of David Smith on Tuesday.
The signs, paid for by Better Nevada PAC, show Newsom side-by-side with Attorney General Aaron Ford, Nevada's Democratic nominee for governor. In photos reviewed by Channel 13 from different locations in Clark County, all the signs appear to have been similarly vandalized with a red or black swastika painted over Newsom's face.
Better Nevada PAC, a Republican political action committee that supports Gov. Joe Lombardo's reelection, previously told Channel 13 it was aware of the vandalism and taking steps to repair the signs.
"These messages have no place in our discourse," Better Nevada spokesperson John Burke wrote.
In their report, investigators note Better Nevada PAC valued the cost of the signs and the labor to replace them at $6,373.43.
In an effort to find the vandal or vandals responsible, LVMPD detectives placed covert cameras near a sign at Buffalo and Alta drives that Better Nevada said had been defaced at least four times.
The sign was vandalized again at approximately 8:10 a.m. on August 23, investigators stated — but this time, it was all caught on camera, giving investigators their first look at the potential suspect, whom they described as an older white man with gray hair and a gray beard.
Video from a nearby auto repair shop captured the man's arrival at 8:02 a.m. in a dark green Chrysler Town and Country, investigators stated. They noted he was shaking an apparent spray paint can while walking toward the property with the political signs.
Detectives used the car's license plate number to search across automated license plate readers in Clark County and noted the plate was "scanned multiple times near the areas of known vandalized signs with no apparent pattern of life for proximities to known residences (Smith is homeless) and no place of employment (Smith is unemployed)."
Investigators noted that a man matching Smith's description also appeared on surveillance video from an RTC bus that drove by another intersection where signs were defaced.
The day Smith was arrested, license plate readers caught the mini van's plate near the Primm Valley casino, and officers took Smith into custody. Police state they found a receipt in Smith's pocket for the purchase of red and black spray paint cans from Walmart in Barstow, California, and cans of spray paint were also visible inside his vehicle.
In an interview with police after his arrest, investigators state Smith told them "he hates Gavin Newsom and he wouldn't 'piss in his mouth if he was on fire.'" Smith "went on to call Newsom 'a Nazi that supports a follically challenged brown guy."
Smith allegedly told police "he did not paint any signs and he will not admit to doing it." When detectives asked him about the spray paint, he told them "he planned on painting the wheels of his car red," according to the report.
He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center for felony placing graffiti on or otherwise defacing property.
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