3 men arrested in theft of Alabama town’s welcome signs

EVA, Ala. – Three men were arrested after someone stole the welcome signs from a small town in north Alabama, authorities said Wednesday.

Officials awoke Tuesday to discover that two metal “Welcome to Eva” signs, each about 4 feet (1.2 metres) tall, were missing from roadsides near the city limits. Sheriff’s investigators within hours arrested two men from neighbouring cities and recovered both missing signs.

A third person, 23-year-old Eva resident Brandon Ryan Bodkin, surrendered to police Wednesday and was being held with William Lawrence Dudley, 23 of Somerville, and Tyler Dean Hammock, 23 of Huntsville, on theft charges, sheriff’s officials said in a statement posted on Facebook.

Court records were not available to show whether the men had attorneys.

Authorities have not said why anyone might want to take the welcome signs but they were both reinstalled in Eva, a town of about 550 people which is 65 miles (105 kilometres) north of Birmingham.