WARNING: This report contains words and graphic images.
Lee Yoshimatsu knew that the political poster in his yard would attract attention: that was the goal.
What she didn’t expect were multiple visits from Wickenburg police officers who told her that her anti-Trump messages and images were illegal.
“Honestly, I was prepared to take the signs down after the 2022 election until I got a visit from the police,” he said. “And that’s when I got mad.”
[Editor’s note: Due to the controversial content of his sign, Lee asked ABC15 to use a last name he uses for business for this report.]
Yoshimatsu’s sign is actually four signs combined into one.
It has changed several times since he put it up in late summer 2022. Currently, three have graphic messages and/or images about former President Donald Trump. The fourth is a sign of support for Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego.
“It was meant to quote active people and make them think, ‘Wow, that’s what these ‘F Biden’ signs do to people,” Yoshimatsu said.
ABC15
Free speech experts said Yoshimatsu’s sign is clearly protected free speech.
“There’s nothing about the First Amendment that requires you to be polite, and not rude, and not crude,” said Ken Paulson, director of the Center for Free Expression at Middle Tennessee State University.
He added: “These are political opinions. The most protected speech in America since the beginning has to do with speech that says, ‘This guy’s a bum, let’s get him out of office, or don’t elect him.'” That it is the core of the First Amendment.”
ABC15 obtained police reports showing Wickenburg police supervisors have visited Yoshimatsu’s home twice around the sign. Officers told him the poster was illegal and it was a crime to have the images.
The first documented visit was on October 24, 2022. The second was on May 3, 2023.
In between, Yoshimatsu said a couple of men in a Wickenburg police SUV yelled at him and called the sign “bullshit.” Yoshimatsu said he complained to the department and was told the men in the car were civilian volunteers.
He feels the intention was to intimidate him.
“I think that’s exactly what they were trying to do,” he said. “I think they’re trying to intimidate me into taking the signs down.”
Yoshimatsu recorded the May police visit with a personal body camera. It shows the officer suggesting he should cover up part of the poster because he believed the image superimposed on a “penis head” where Trump’s hair should be was indecent exposure.
“When I look at it, what you’re doing right now is committing a criminal act,” said Sgt. Brandon Dalley. “And I’m giving you a chance to make amends.”
After the visit, police also contacted the Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office, which told them the sign was protected speech, records show.
“The only limits we have on things that are sexual in America have to do with things that are obscene,” Paulsen said. “To a large extent, it has to appeal to sexual impulses. It has to have an erotic element without any redeeming value.”
A police spokesperson told ABC15 that neighbors had complained and that’s why they made visits for the sign.
As for Yoshimatsu, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, he doesn’t know what he’ll do from here.
But given what’s happened, he sees his sign as a bigger symbol.
“If we lost 58,200 men and women in Vietnam, why did we do it if we can have the police running around and trying to intimidate over a signal,” he said.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
