March 9, 2022
Ohio

Anti-windmill petitions stolen … couple charged

By Crawford County Now Staff | March 8, 2022 | crawfordcountynow.com

BUCYRUS—A Seneca County couple seems to have disappeared after they were caught on video, making anti-windmill petitions disappear from a local restaurant that provided drop-off space for volunteers to gather petitions opposing the project. Citizens spent many hours collecting the anti-windmill petitions to make their voices heard to Crawford County Commissioner. Estimates that around 4000 petitions were stolen from LuLu’s Kitchen in Bucyrus.

Video surveillance revealed the culprits, and police have made contact with them. They were ordered to return the documents to the police department.

According to redacted reports received from Bucyrus Police Captain Tom Walker, Bucyrus residents Roger and Kay Weisenauer came to the police department to report that they have several drop-off locations for the anti-wind turbine petitions, including LuLu’s Diner.

Bucyrus Police Officer Kevin Wert followed up on the report and went to the diner, reviewing still footage of the man and woman leaving the restaurant with the petitions. Officer Wert obtained contact information using information from a credit card transaction.

Officer Wert was able to make contact with the man and wife from Seneca County. The man told Wert he thought the petitions were meant to be taken by whoever wanted them. Wert told them to return the documents to the Police station, and he would return them to the owners.

When the couple did not return the documents, Officer Wert continued to investigate. He learned the couple appears to be two leaseholders with Honey Creek Wind LLC in Seneca County, and the female has worked or is working for Apex Energy. She is listed as a contact person with an email address associated with an event at the Attica Fairgrounds. Her Linked-In page says she has a “demonstrated history of working in renewables and environmental industry.” This is the woman shown in the video.

The missing petitions were not returned to the Bucyrus Police Department as instructed but instead were left at the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department by a “Good Samaritan .” On March 6th, the couple was told to pick up their summons to appear in Crawford County Municipal Court to answer to theft charges.

The couple in the video has not picked up their summons. A warrant for their arrest is the next step.

Crawford County Now reached out to Apex to get their response on the incident. Apex Director of Corporate Communications Cat Strumlauf replied with the following statement:

“Apex has launched an internal investigation into the allegations. In the interim, the employee in question has been placed on administrative leave. We take the allegations seriously and stand by our corporate values of always acting with integrity and professionalism.”

Crawford County Now will continue to follow this developing story.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2022/03/09/anti-windmill-petitions-stolen-couple-charged/