50+ Pro-Trump Flags On Lawn Followed By Electric Meter Ripped From Bay Area Home

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA – A Concord couple remains scared today after someone planted about 50 American flags - some with political messages on them - in their front lawn and then tore the electric meter off their home early Saturday morning.

Late Friday night, some neighbors of Montana Drive residents Jay and Denisen Hartlove were setting off fireworks as Denisen was monitoring the neighborhood chatter on Facebook.

She mentioned on Facebook that her neighbors were setting off fireworks again, which bothered the couple, and then around midnight Jay heard something like jingling at the front door, Denisen said.

He went outside and found tucked in the screen door and in the handle of one of their car doors were American flags. Planted across their yard were roughly 50 more American flags.

Denisen said the couple figured it was a prank. Jay saw the shadow of person go down the driveway and he went after them until the person slipped into a nearby home, she said.

Denisen said the couple believes it was one of their neighbors.

Jay collected the flags. Seven of them had such slogans on them as "Build the Wall," said Denisen, who said she and her husband are Democrats and voted for Hillary Clinton for president.

Denisen said she sent the neighbor suspected of having planted the flags a Facebook message. "He didn't respond," she said. "I was being funny," she added.

About a half hour later, the couple heard a loud bang coming from the street and thought a transformer had exploded. "The house shook," Denisen said.

Jay went outside and said the air smelled like a big firecracker.

What the couple realized then was that someone ripped the electric meter ripped their home, which cut off the electricity at about 1 a.m.

"It was gone," Denisen said of the meter. The couple called police and PG&E.

"We were really afraid," she said.

The couple has at least two children.

Today, the couple said they spent $3,000 on a security system because they don't know what's next, if anything.

Other residents of the neighborhood have been supportive of the couple's plight, posting messages on Facebook and saying that what happened is not okay.

Police are investigating, Cpl. Christopher Blakely said. Officers took a report and are investigating the case as vandalism. Blakely said the case will be assigned to a detective today.

Officers are looking for any video surveillance footage that might be used as evidence.

Officers interviewed the person the couple suspected of the vandalism and he denied doing anything, Blakely said.

Attempts to reach by phone the person suspected by the couple were unsuccessful.

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