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Democratic mayoral hopeful Lewis Butts meets with the PennLive/Patriot-News editorial board on April 12, 2013. Christine Baker | cbaker@pennlive.com

(Christine Baker)

Harrisburg mayoral candidate Lewis L. Butts, Jr. has been charged with criminal mischief and criminal conspiracy - both misdemeanor counts of the second degree - for defacing the campaign signs of candidate Eric Papenfuse with black spray paint, changing Papenfuse's name to "Papenpuss."

The impact on the outcome of the election is negligible, as Butts was polling somewhere between zero and 2 percent.

Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said a taxi driver saw Butts and another, unidentified man defacing a Papenfuse sign at the corner of Cameron and Herr the night of May 11. The taxi driver followed them to another location, where they defaced another sign. The cab driver got the license plate number of the SUV the men were driving. The North Carolina plate was traced to Butts' sister.

Marsico said Butts admitted to police he had defaced the signs, but refused to give up the name of the man who helped him.

Marsico said the maximum penalty for the charges was two years in prison, but given the value of the signs - $2,100 - and Butts' prior record, he would most likely be facing a sentence of probation under the sentencing guidelines.

The charges are being mailed to Butts.

Marsico said investigators got the impression during their interview with Butts that he "regretted his actions and seemed frustrated in the way the campaign was going."

"There's always the yard sign war," said Marsico, "but In 20-some years, this is fairly unique - to have a actual candidate himself involved in targeting another candidate's signs."

Television reporter Porcha Johnson, of WGAL, pushed Marsico repeatedly about other candidates' signs being defaced or going missing, saying Mayor Linda Thompson told her that in some instances Papenfuse had covered up her signs with his own.

Marsico said his office investigated this case because a criminal complaint had been filed with the city, and the city referred it to his office.

When Johnson continued to push about the yard signs belonging to the mayor, Marsico finally said, "I've got better things to do."

NOTE: This story has been updated from the original to correct the value of the defaced campaign signs.