“Ruh-Roh,” Rancho: The Curious Case of the Missing Signs

If there was ever a story that deserved a Scooby-Doo soundtrack, this might be it.

For more than a month, Covenant residents have been scratching their heads over the disappearance of “Stop Silvergate” yard signs from private property. More than 20 signs are believed to have vanished, usually under the cover of darkness, turning the affair into a neighborhood whodunit.

The theories were plentiful. No one guessed the ending.

Was it someone opposed to the signs? A late-night prankster? Someone connected to the Silvergate project? Building Department Enforcement? RSF Patrol?

As it turns out, the mystery had more plot twists than a Saturday morning cartoon.

The first reports surfaced on July 1, when resident Holly Manion emailed Enforcement Officer Danny Lines after discovering her sign had disappeared.

“My sign was on private property,” she wrote. “Was this the RSF Association? If so, where can we retrieve the signs? If not, I will place a police report.”

Lines directed her to the Rancho Santa Fe Patrol.

As more signs disappeared throughout the community, the questions grew louder.

After a second round of printing, distribution and guidance on sign placement, resident Cari Chanin emailed Association staff, RSFA President Courtney LeBeau, and RSF Patrol to report that another sign had disappeared from her property. If the Association was not responsible, she wrote, perhaps those involved should be reminded that entering private property and removing signs was unlawful.

The responses appeared to settle the matter.

On July 27, Patrol Chief Michael Scaramella replied:

“Patrol has been made aware of the situation, and we have not removed any of those signs.”

Enforcement Officer Danny Lines followed with his own assurance:

“I haven’t removed any signs as well.”

With Patrol effectively crossing itself off the suspect list, residents naturally looked elsewhere for answers.

Case closed. Until it wasn’t.

Every Scooby-Doo mystery has that moment when the story suddenly takes an unexpected turn.

In this case, it wasn’t a magnifying glass. It was a trail camera.

A Covenant resident reviewed images captured by a motion-activated trail camera overlooking a “Stop Silvergate” sign. The footage shows someone without a flashlight entering private property at 1:30 a.m, July 31, and removing the sign.

If this really were a Scooby-Doo episode, this is the moment the gang would gather around the computer screen.

Fred would lean in.

Velma would adjust her glasses.

The footage would begin to roll.

Scooby would take one look at the screen and utter his infamous:

“Ruh-roh.”

The following day, members of Protect Rancho Santa Fe met with a Board director and shared the photographs. Within 24 hours, Chief Scaramella sent an email acknowledging that one Patrol officer had, in fact, removed a “Stop Silvergate” sign from a member’s property.

According to Scaramella, Patrol officers routinely remove unauthorized commercial signs placed throughout the Covenant. He explained that the officer mistakenly believed the Silvergate sign was one of those commercial signs because it was dark, folded it into his patrol vehicle with other confiscated signs, and only realized the mistake after returning to Patrol headquarters. By then, the sign had been damaged, and the officer could not remember exactly where it had been removed.

Patrol apologized, reminded officers not to remove the “Stop Silvergate” signs, and offered to replace the damaged sign.

The Association already has an established process for handling commercial sign enforcement through its Building Department. If that’s the process, how did an on-duty Patrol officer end up in the picture — at 1:30 in the morning?

Then came another unexpected twist.

Patrol said the officer removed a sign from a home on Rambla De Las Flores. The trail camera images, however, were captured at a home on Lago Lindo.

“Jinkies,” Velma might say. “Looks like we’ve got two mysteries instead of one!”

At Thursday’s Association Board meeting, Russ Penniman, president of Protect Rancho Santa Fe, called it “a disparity between the July 31 camera footage and the Patrol Chief’s report,” – and that the differing locations raised a broader question: if the incident was not isolated, where did it originate?

The trail camera solved one mystery. The explanation created another.

Mystery Inc. would probably call this one…

“To Be Continued…”

Kelli Hillard is the editor of the RSF Post and former member of the Rancho Santa Fe Art Jury.