Clarkston police have obtained a misdemeanor warrant for a metro Atlanta police officer who is running for a city council seat. Riverdale Police Sergeant Larry McClam is accused of stealing the campaign signs of his opponent, Dean Moore.

Investigators say they've tied McClam to the incident, accusing him of taking two of Moore's planted signs and putting them in his marked police vehicle earlier this month on Sept. 5, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Moore met with police on Sept. 7, reporting that two of his signs, each worth $6, had been taken down just one day after he planted them. He said that he put them both out in front of an auto repair shop on Sept. 4 with the approval of the store owner. He also told police another one of his signs went missing in August.

Police reports state the marked police car was caught on surveillance footage from the auto repair shop. Around 6:45 a.m. on the day in question, the car is seen driving into the repair shop. The driver can be seen getting out of the vehicle, picking up both of Moore's signs and placing them into the trunk of the SUV.

Though the police markings were unidentifiable in the video, Riverdale police confirmed that the car is one of theirs and was assigned to McClam.

McClam, who has no past disciplinary record, has been on the force with the Riverdale Police Department since 2018. He previously worked with the Clarkston police from 2013 to 2016.

He voluntarily left his post in 2016 to join the Morehouse School of Medicine's police department. McClam has yet to comment on the situation, but investigators said he was close to giving police a statement before he obtained legal assistance from attorney Sarah Flack.

According to McClam's LinkedIn profile, his goal as an officer is to "promote historical change in Law Enforcement through effective application of policy regulation, officer field training and advanced community safety, as I maintain professional development that supports organizational growth."

Moore and McClam are just two of seven candidates running for three open city council seats in Clarkston this November. The three with the most votes in the at-large race will take over the vacant spots. The other candidates include incumbent Jamie Carroll, Herbert Clark, Susan Hood, Shana “Tiny” McAllister and Yterenickia Bell.

Larry-McClam

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week