An unknown woman was caught on camera ripping a sign supporting Spencer Pratt for mayor from a Los Angeles yard — prompting online sleuths to name and shame her.
A resident reported the Studio City theft to cops, explaining that he checked his property’s surveillance footage on Wednesday afternoon and saw two “female teens or young adults” grabbing the sign before walking off with it, according to a police report obtained by The California Post.
“I uploaded a still and I have clearer video at home,” the resident, a 65-year-old male, wrote in the report. “I do not recognize these persons, they do not live on my street and I have never seen them in the area before.”
A video uploaded by journalist Daniel Guss appears shows a young woman in athletic attire snagging the sign by putting it under her arm to uproot it. The suspect then carries the sign away as another woman follows behind.
Guss launched a crusade to track down the “Pilfering Karen” amid reports of a similar-looking woman swiping Pratt signs.
“Okay internet!” he wrote on X, with a link to the surveillance footage. “Sleuth away!”
Guss provided a description of the suspect in a Substack post, including “what appears to be a lengthy tattoo on the left arm.”
Commenters on social meda also provided AI-enhanced photos of the woman to try to better identify her.
“I live in this area. I’ll keep an eye out,” one responded.
“Send the footage to the Pratt campaign. They can use it in a commercial,” another added.
Guss noted that even if the signs had been on public property “in a restricted right-of-way in violation of local municipal codes, they can only be removed by authorized city or county officials, not by private citizens.”
Pratt is challenging Mayor Karen Bass for her seat alongside socialist-linked city councilwoman Nithya Raman and a host of others.
An Emerson College poll from earlier this month placed Pratt in a second-place tie with Raman at 23% support, with Bass leading the pack at 35%.
