Police have arrested and charged a 27-year-old East Anchorage woman for vandalizing Mayor Dave Bronson’s reelection campaign signs, a felony. Police also charged Amanda Maldonado Pineda with an additional felony and misdemeanor for swapping out her car’s license plates and falsely reporting them stolen.Â
Pineda was arrested on April 25, police said in an email to reporters Monday. She could face up to 11 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.
According to the police detective’s criminal complaint, he used cellphone records obtained through a search warrant to tie Pineda’s location to that of 14 signs vandalized at various locations across town in the early hours of March 11.Â
Pineda posted bond on April 29, and could not be reached for comment Monday. A woman who answered a call on the phone number for her in the complaint hung up and did not respond to a text message requesting comment. The attorney listed for Pineda could not immediately be reached.
Campaign sign vandalism is common during election seasons in Anchorage. In March, the Bronson campaign filed a police report that 33 of its signs had been vandalized, some with juvenile, apolitical messages attacking Bronson. Many had messages critical of Israel’s military response in Gaza to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel that resulted in civilian massacres and kidnappings. Bronson has described himself as a Zionist who backs Israel.
When reached for comment on Monday, Bronson campaign manager Blake Stieren said he had not heard about the arrest, but welcomed the news.
“I’m deeply disappointed that anyone would feel it necessary to vandalize team Bronson signs in order to further a message or an agenda,” Stieren said. “But I’m grateful to the APD that they were able to find those responsible and make an arrest.”
Police did not allege a motive in the complaint. Pineda is registered as a Libertarian in Alaska. Her name does not appear in donor records for any local, state or federal campaigns in Alaska.
Katie Scovic, the campaign manager for Bronson’s opponent in the mayoral runoff election Suzanne LaFrance, said she was not aware of any connections between Pineda and the campaign. She said people are also vandalizing LaFrance campaign signs, including ones she has in her own yard.
“We’ve definitely seen a spike in sign vandalism during the runoff,” Scovic said. “We had our team out putting up signs this weekend and had a number of those reported either destroyed or vandalized even just overnight.”
Scovic said the LaFrance campaign has not filed any police reports about sign vandalism, but she knows some individuals have.
Renee Oistad, a spokesperson for the police department, said she was not aware of any other charges or arrests related to campaign signs this election cycle. She said the department won’t discuss outstanding investigations unless charges are filed.
Voting in the mayoral runoff election began last week. The last day to vote is May 14.
Jeremy Hsieh covers Anchorage with an emphasis on housing, homelessness, infrastructure and development. Reach him at jhsieh@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8428. Read more about Jeremy here.
