West Orange Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Tammy Williams is under criminal investigation by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office after body-camera footage from Oct. 15 showed police pulling two campaign signs from the trunk of her car. The signs had been secretly embedded with Apple AirTags by a local business owner who says his signs kept disappearing from yards around town. The probe lands less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 election, in which Williams is challenging incumbent Mayor Susan McCartney.
Tracking Devices Lead Police to the Councilwoman's Car
According to Montclair Local, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office confirmed it has opened a criminal investigation into the matter, though the office has offered no additional details about the nature of its inquiry. The outlet reports that the Oct. 15 footage shows Williams being pulled over, pulling one of several signs from her car, and police ultimately removing two signs from her trunk. One of the signs removed had the mayor's name crossed out and the words “Small Businesses Deserve Better” written across it, per the same report.
The signs trace back to Jarrett Seltzer, owner of Bagels By Jarrett, who told reporters he hid dozens of Apple AirTags inside his latest batch of signs after earlier ones kept vanishing. Patch reports Seltzer placed signs opposing both Williams and McCartney in locations around town. The count of missing signs varies by outlet: Montclair Local reports Seltzer said more than 50 of his signs were stolen, while News 12 New Jersey reports Seltzer said 50 of his 100 signs had been taken.
A Sign, a Vacant Lot, and Dueling Claims of Permission
Seltzer says one of the AirTag-equipped signs was traced to Williams' vehicle and later pinged at her home, according to Montclair Local's reporting. He filed a police report with the West Orange Police Department, which then began investigating alongside the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
Williams' campaign disputes the theft characterization. Her team told Patch that Seltzer had placed a sign opposing her on the lawn of a vacant building at 222 Main Street without the property owner's permission, and that Williams had the owner's authorization both to place her own sign there and to remove Seltzer's. Removing a sign from private property with the owner's consent is not theft, Williams' campaign argued, per Patch's report.
Local Sign Rules and a Past Case's Outcome
West Orange's own municipal code, obtained from the township's website, sets limits on political signage: temporary signs supporting a candidate may stay up for no more than 30 consecutive days before an election and must come down within two days afterward. The ordinance also generally requires a permit before a sign is erected, altered, relocated, or maintained, and any application must include the property owner's name and written consent when the owner isn't the applicant filing it.
The dispute between Seltzer and Williams isn't new. According to ABC7 New York, the two previously clashed over political signs at Seltzer's bagel shop storefront back in 2023. A separate New Jersey sign-tracking case offers a glimpse of how these disputes can end: New Jersey Globe reports that in a 2024 Readington Township case, police tracked six missing political signs to committeeman John Albanese Jr.'s home and found them in his garage; Albanese later pleaded guilty to a lesser public-nuisance charge and paid a $750 fine under a plea agreement reached in April 2025.
As first reported by NJ.com, Seltzer has characterized the episode as potentially involving a First Amendment violation, theft, and possibly lying to police. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office has said it cannot comment further because the investigation remains ongoing, and it has not disclosed whether charges will be filed. Mayor McCartney has not commented on the investigation. With Election Day just over a week away, neither the outcome of the prosecutor's inquiry nor the mayoral race itself has been decided.
