PRINCETON -- The Princeton University professor accused of stealing 21 lawn signs for a local computer business was recorded on multiple occasions taking the signs, the business owner said today.

Ted Horodynsky, owner of Princeton Computer Repairs, Tutoring and Digital Services, said he noticed his 2-by-2-foot signs, worth more than $20 each, disappearing from private property locations in August and filed several police reports.

The signs started to disappear shortly after the traffic incident Horodynsky said he had with Princeton professor John Mulvey, 67, of Puritan Court, who now faces theft charges filed by police.

Mulvey was charged after Horodynsky set up surveillance of a lawn sign location to capture the thief in action. Horodynsky said he turned the video over to police.

Mulvey, a professor of operations research and financial engineering and a founding member of the Bendheim Center for Finance, said he was merely picking up debris and will fight the charges in court.

“I think there was a mistake in the charges,’’ Mulvey said in a telephone interview today. “I drive back and forth in that area and frequently stop to pick up debris in the roadway.”

"Some people don’t like the signs and they throw them in the woods," Mulvey said. "I make it my job to pick them up and keep them, so that’s what happened."

Mulvey said he never took any of the signs out of the ground.

"I have no reason to do that," he said. "I have nothing against signs or capitalism."

All of the signs, valued at $471, have been recovered, police said. The signs were removed from the area of Rosedale and Elm roads beginning in June, police said.

Horodynsky said he was relieved there finally was an arrest and that his signs have been returned.

Horodynsky said he places the signs outside places where he is contracted, with the permission of the business or home owner, and at other spots around town where such signs are allowed.

After filing several police reports, Horodynsky said he decided to set up a camera near one of his signs to catch the thief. Horodynsky said the video showed Mulvey on five separate occasions stealing his signs, putting them in a car and driving off.

Horodynsky said the camera caught the license plate of the car, leading police to Mulvey’s home, where the 21 signs were found in the garage.

"I’m relieved that after a year of being plagued by this that it’s finally over," Horodynsky said.

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