Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo wants to see the person who stole U.S. and county flags from the courthouse lawn prosecuted.
"I am angry, and I am not going to pretend otherwise," Crocamo said Friday.
The flags were part of a patriotic display on the south lawn of the courthouse in honor of the nation's semiquincentennial and Luzerne County's 240th anniversary.
A screenshot from surveillance footage appears to show a person on a bicycle approaching the display on the afternoon of Aug. 22, according to emails released by the county.
Crocamo said the display was shaped like the outline of the United States, with a county flag placed where Luzerne County sits.
A number of U.S. flags and the county flag were taken, she said.
She told WVIA News the theft is "an insult not only to the Luzerne County community and the residents, but an insult to our servicemen and women who fought for our freedoms."
"Those flags stand for every man and woman from this county who has ever worn this country’s uniform, for the families who have buried loved ones under that flag, and for every resident who walks past that lawn and feels a little bit of pride in this community," Crocamo said in a statement released Friday morning.
"Whoever did this didn’t just take a piece of fabric off a pole. They spat on everything that flag represents," she said. "I can’t think of a pettier, more cowardly, or more un-American act than sneaking onto public property to steal a flag."
County flag noticed missing first
Crocamo said the first inkling of a problem came last week when officials noticed the county flag was gone.
"I was notified that the Luzerne County flag was missing, and we thought maybe a department needed the flag for something else. So it took us about a day or two to realize that it wasn't removed by one of our departments," she said.
A single person appears in the surveillance image released by the county, but Crocamo said she couldn't speculate on whether others might also have been involved.
"I have directed our team to turn this [surveillance footage] over to law enforcement, and I am asking that whoever is responsible be identified, charged, and fully prosecuted," she said. "This is not a symbolic gesture on my part: I mean it."
The rest of the display remains in place.
"We had the flags out for the America 250 and the Pennsylvania 250 celebration, and we were keeping the flags out through September because, of course, we have our 240th anniversary for Luzerne County. We have September 11th, so we were going to keep the display up until the end of September," Crocamo said.
"I just want people to know that it really is upsetting that someone thought that this was okay to do, because it isn't."
