'Red Light Robin Hood' to Collect Signatures For Petition to Run For Senate

Stephen Ruth, the man who calls himself the "Red Light Robin Hood" and faces felony charges for damaging red light cameras in Suffolk County, will be collecting signatures to run for the New York Senate in Commack on Friday.

The 43-year-old Centereach resident will be at the 7-Eleven on 454 Veterans Highway and Harned Road from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to collect signatures for a petition to be included on th ballot this November.

In June, Ruth announced on his Facebook page that he has decided to run for the New York Senate's 2nd District under the Libertarian party.

"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 post on his Facebook page reads. "By putting me in office, it will be the first step in taking the power back."

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.

Currently, Republican John J. Flanagan represents the 2nd district and plans on running for re-election.

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.