Crime & Safety

Marsh Road Patriot's Ten Commandments Sign Stolen

Chris Caetta has no plans to be silenced.

The man affectionately known as the Marsh Road Patriot plans to eventually replace a sign displaying the Ten Commandments that was stolen recently from his yard.

Caetta, who is known for placing an abundance of political signs and flags—even an empty chair during the last presidential election—in his yard, said he has had such items stolen before. But this is the first time he’s filed a police report.

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“At one point we actually had something stolen, and when my wife and I went to church on Sunday morning they put it back on our front porch,” Caetta said. “So we know that they’re close.”

Caetta first posted the handmade Ten Commandments sign last summer to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday. This year he planned to leave the sign up during the summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

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Right now only flags adorn Caetta’s yard. But he plans to make another Ten Commandments sign after he takes some steps to improve security on his property.

Caetta said his message to the thief is simple, and that’s to respect his First Amendment right to freedom of expression—and the many Americans who have died fighting for that right.

“I truly have no bad or ill feelings toward them,” he said. “In fact, I really have nothing but sympathy for them.

“If you don’t like what I have to say on my property, drive by or look the other way as I do to you,” Caetta said. “I will not be shut down. I will not be intimidated to keep quiet.”


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