Sign of surrender

Frankfort, N.Y. Mayor Frank Moracco must have had dollar signs in his eyes while stealing 111 street signs from the New York State Department of Transportation to give to the Frankfort Street Department.

“There were a variety of signs, including yield and stop signs,” New York State Police Spokesman Jack Keller told the Huffington Post. “A village usually has to apply to get signs and then pay a fee. [Moracco] bypassed that process.”

A state police investigation that began in July 2015 found that Moracco – who worked as a sign shop foreman at a NYSDOT sign shop in Herkimer, N.Y. – had been giving Frankfort such signs for years, the Utica Observer and Syracuse.com report. The majority of Frankfort’s street signs consist of those stolen by Moracco.

“He just drops them off to us when he is working for the state and has said they are scrap that has no value,” Frankfort Foreman Michael Irons said in a sworn statement to New York State Police investigators. “The village of Frankfort gets almost all of its road signs from Frank Moracco for no charge.”

Moracco has been charged with petit larceny and official misconduct, the Utica Observer reports. Moracco has requested a change of venue for the case, which will be placed before a county judge later this month. 

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