Couple Tried to Steal Street Sign

NEWPORT, RI—Police responded to the corner of Sherman and Spring streets at 1:41 a.m. on Friday for a report about a man and a woman stealing a street sign. According to the arrest report, the officer found the pair removing a snow emergency sign attached to a telephone pole.

Jeffrey Ryan Sciera, 26, of Dewitt, N.Y,, and Mallory Samantha Fisher, 22, of Canton, N.Y., were charged each with attempted larceny under $1,500, which is a misdemeanor.

Sciera later told police the sign heist was all his idea, and Fisher didn't want to do it, according to the arrest report. He explained he has stolen signs before in his home state of New York and wanted one from Newport, where he and Fisher used to live. He took a wrench with them when they went out to a downtown bar, but he maintained they did not decide to take the sign until they were on their way back to their hotel, police allege.