'Red Light Robin Hood' Officially on Ballot For NY Senate

Stephen Ruth, also known as the "Red Light Robin Hood" recently announced that he is officially on the ballot to run for the Senate of the New York 2nd District.

Last month, 43-year-old Ruth, who faces felony charges for damaging red light cameras in Suffolk County, started collected signatures for a petition to run for the Senate.

He will be running against incumbent Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-East Northport) as a Libertarian.

The district covers Centereach, Commack, Coram, Deer Park, Dix Hills, East Northport, East Setauket, Farmingville, Fort Salonga, Greenlawn, Hauppauge, Huntington, Huntington Station, Kings Park, Lake Grove, Lake Ronkonkoma, Medford, Melville, Nesconset, Northport, Port Jefferson Station, Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma, South Setauket, Selden, Setauket, Smithtown, St. James and Stony Brook.

"It's time to get the word to there and put the Red Light Robin Hood in office to fight for the people, just like I've been fighting this unconstitutional program," a previous post on his Facebook page reads. "By putting me in office, it will be the first step in taking the power back."

Last August, Ruth was arrested after he tampered with red light cameras in Ronkonkoma, pointing them upward so that they could not capture violators, which he took a video of and posted on YouTube.

In April, he was arrested again after a CBS 2 report was published in which Ruth said he had damaged dozens of the cameras over the weekend.

“I cut the cable wires, making it useless,” Ruth said, according to the report. “I’ve made it dysfunctional, just like the whole red light camera program.”

Ruth was accused of cutting wires and manipulating equipment on 18 red light cameras across the county on in addition to cutting a red light camera pole at County Road 83 and Old Town Road in Coram in Jan., police said.

Preliminary estimates put the damages at a cost of at least $25,000, police said.