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The body camera footage from Easton police interactions with four-term Democrat State Rep. Anne Hughes has been released, and it paints a picture of a lawmaker who first claimed no knowledge of missing campaign signs, then admitted to collecting piles of them (including those belonging to her Republican opponent Darrell Harris), stored them on property she owns, and repeatedly declined to clear the matter immediately.
The signs in question featured Hughes’s own April 2025 hot-mic comment after a Tax Equity Caucus press conference: “We’re not rich. But I always say to the governor, tax my people. They won’t even notice.” Harris’s campaign had placed an AirTag in at least one sign after multiple disappearances along Route 59 and Judd Road. Police tracked it to the area of Hughes’s property. She returned several signs, including the tagged one, and was issued a misdemeanor summons for sixth-degree larceny. She has a court date on November 10 at 9:30am.
What The Footage Showed
When an officer arrived at night after the AirTag ping, Hughes initially said she had no idea about a missing sign. She offered to check with others living there (no kids, she said, but people interested in politics). After going inside, she returned and explained that “a whole pile of signs” had been dumped on the ground at various corners—including ones for Susan Bysiewicz, Ned Lamont, and others, plus her own—and that she and others had picked them up. Some went in the trash; others were in the garage area.
The officer noted the tagged sign was red and white with something about “taxing my people.” Hughes acknowledged picking them up but said she could not go unlock the relevant property that night because it involved the neighbor’s/renter’s area and it was late. She offered to bring the AirTag to the police station in the morning. The complainant (Harris campaign) wanted the full signs back, not just the tracker. The officer relayed that request.
The next day, Hughes brought signs into the police station. A detective reviewed the AirTag data: the tagged sign went from the corner of Judd and Maple to her residence. Hughes maintained she had picked up a pile of littered signs “across the street” by a stone wall on Stephanie and Judd, including community and other campaign signs, along with bottles, cans, and styrofoam. She said she separated them for recycling and put them in bins stored in the shared garage area.
The detective pressed on why she would take opponent signs home rather than call the town or leave them, noting political signs have value and this was being treated as larceny. Hughes said she did not take the specific sign from the indicated corner and that the tracking did not match her account of finding them already on the ground. She declined an immediate trip to the property to verify no other Harris signs remained, citing a need to go door-knocking and attend a rally in Weston. She offered to circle back later. The detective noted it was his day off and that verifying the absence of the signs would help resolve the investigation quickly.
The police chief then entered. On body camera, he was direct: “There’s nothing about this that looks good. You should not be touching your opponent’s signs in any shape or form. If they’re in the middle of the road, you call us.” He added that there is “zero excuse for a sign of your opponent to end up at your house” and “zero, there is absolutely zero. I can’t justify it in any world.” He said the State’s Attorney was aware and unhappy, that flexibility was limited, and that a summons would be difficult to avoid. Hughes retrieved her license.
The detective then issued a misdemeanor summons (not a custodial arrest with handcuffs and booking), explained it as the lowest-level larceny charge, and gave her the opportunity for a written statement. She provided one consistent with her account of picking up roadside litter/signs. The detective advised honesty at court and suggested she get ahead of the story. Hughes said she appreciated his work.
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