A Connecticut real estate agent has been charged with stealing a competitor's for sale signs from the front lawns of area homes.

Police say 54-year-old Robert Toth, of Shelton, was charged Wednesday with third-degree larceny and first-degree criminal trespass. Toth owns American Home Realty in Trumbull.

Police say U.S. Asset Realty owner Jihad Shaheer complained in September that his signs had been stolen from more than a half-dozen sites in Bridgeport and from the front of two homes in Stratford.

Police tell the Connecticut Post ( http://bit.ly/TT1Dsp) that they later determined that Toth had been taking the signs. Toth had worked for Shaheer before opening his own real estate company.

Toth declined to comment.

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Information from: Connecticut Post, http://www.connpost.com