Chris Collins, running for Martin County Commission Seat Two, posted a video to Facebook claiming he caught a man stealing his campaign signs using a hunting trail camera. In the video, Collins stands in front of a still photo showing a man in a darkened area at night holding one of his campaign signs. Collins, formerly the Mayor of Stuart, said he set up the trail cam after some of his signs went missing and put Apple AirTags on some of the signs to track their location.
Collins identified the man as Jim Gallegos and said the signs were tracked to Gallegos' house. Collins claimed Gallegos is a campaign advisor to Merritt Matheson, another political candidate, though not in the same race as Collins. Gallegos denied the accusation, saying he was taking down signs that the property owner had requested be removed. Merritt Matheson sent a text saying Gallegos is not his campaign advisor.
The story of the stolen signs prompted Derreck Ogden, who is running for election to be a Stuart City Commissioner, to confront Gallegos. Their argument about the campaign signs was caught on camera and posted on Facebook. Gallegos said he removed about 30 campaign signs for various candidates, not just Chris Collins' campaign, because the property owner did not want the signs on his property. Gallegos said he no longer has the campaign signs.