After reports of Yukon MP Ryan Leef’s name being sawed out of his campaign signs last week, the culprit herself has gone public with her story.

It involves camouflage, handcuffs and Leef screeching, “You are under citizen’s arrest!”

Leef responded to local media today with his side of the story.

The details in the woman’s letter are misleading and contradictory to what happened, he said.

In a letter she sent to local newspapers, Whitehorse resident Carrie Boles recounted what allegedly happened last Thursday when she went out with “romantic notions of civil disobedience” in her mind.

Boles is a full-time student at Yukon College, pursuing a career in education.

After 10 p.m. last Thursday, Boles hopped upon her purple bike, named “Sancho,” and rode along a stretch of the Alaska Highway near a rest stop before the turnoff onto the Mayo Road, where some of Leef’s campaign signs were appointed.

Steak knife in hand, Boles cut out Leef’s name and the Conservative logo on the signs – to “keep things clean.”

In an interview this morning, Boles said it was her second kick at the can with the campaign signs, having initially defaced them the night before.

Boles told the Star she wanted to bug the “poor guy” who had replaced all of the signs she had ruined the previous night.

She chalks the technically criminal act up to an “accumulation of emotion,” citing her need to “vent.”

As she moved onto the fourth sign in the row, she heard a rumble in the bushes behind her.

Two men emerged from the bushes – one balding and in all black, the other in camouflage.

She now identifies the men as Leef in the camouflage, and his campaign manager, Darren Parsons, in all-black.

Boles alleges that the man in camouflage, Leef, twisted her left arm behind her back and knocked her to her knees, telling her that she was under “citizen’s arrest.”

She was then handcuffed, and the RCMP were called.

Boles said she asked Leef to call again, after they had been waiting about 15 minutes.

“As I knelt, handcuffed in the pouring rain with the local Conservative Party member as my arresting officer – I silently called out to Canadians to vote for a more balanced government this upcoming election,” Boles wrote in her letter.

Once the police arrived, Boles was released with a warning.

During the time they had been waiting, Boles said she had “ridiculous” back-and-forth conversation with the men.

She asked what her rights were. Leef told her she should be channeling her energy in a different way, such as volunteering with a political party.

It is not Leef’s first arrest – he is a former RCMP officer.

The politician was also acting in accordance to the citizen’s arrest laws, as stated on the federal Department of Justice website.

If a private citizen sees a person in the act of committing or escaping from a crime, he or she may make a citizen’s arrest.

The person making the arrest must tell the suspect that he or she is making a citizen’s arrest, call the police and temporarily detain the suspect until police arrive.

The law allows a person to use as much force as is necessary to make the arrest, as long as that person is “acting on reasonable grounds.”

According to Boles’ story, Leef did just that.

Boles said he acted “professionally” toward her during the entire altercation.

She claims she did not know that destroying election signs is a crime, adding that the whole incident “shows how little (she) knows about the justice system.”

“I did something foolish. It was simply an act of civil disobedience,” Boles said.

“I would do it again.”

Boles suggests that Parsons and Leef were waiting in the bushes with handcuffs and motion sensor cameras set up, like lions stalking prey.

Leef is offering a slightly different account of the action, saying Boles had vandalized the signs not two, but three times.

Leef told the Star this afternoon he filed a police report after discovering the signs the first time and installed a camera to one of the signs, hoping to catch video and photo evidence to provide to the police.

After the second act of vandalism was completed, he said the camera had been knocked down.

He did not put the camera back with the new signs, saying that he was pondering where he might place it in the future.

“I swear I saw flashing lights,” said Boles, who is certain there was a motion sensor camera set up and photos of her being taken.

She also believes that Leef and Parsons had been waiting to catch her.

But Leef said he was driving into the city for coffee with friends when he saw, for the second time that day, damaged campaign signs.

He says he was fixing the signs when he spotted a woman dressed head to toe in dark clothing damaging his signs.

The camouflage jacket is part of his regular rain attire, he said – and handcuffs are something he carries.

During election time, Leef said, it’s expected there will be a certain amount of mischief to signage.

But this incident was different, he said.

“This was very clear that there was an intentional message being sent,” he told the Star.

“It was significant and it was planned.

This is a person who knows clearly that her behaviour is criminal.”

Leef said the act extends beyond the fact that it is costly to campaigns to repetitively replace signage.

“Yukoners are tired of this laissez-faire attitude that acts of vandalism are victimless crimes,” he said.

Boles is painting herself as a victim and trying to appeal to public sympathy, the MP said.

“If you look at social media,” Leef said, there’s a “clear backlash” in her direction.

Despite Leef disputing parts of Boles’ story, Yukon News editor John Thompson took to Twitter after publishing the letter Wednesday. He stated the News had confirmed the facts of the letter with Leef’s office before publication.

Campaign manager Parsons would only confirm that he was with Leef during the incident.

Whitehorse RCMP did not respond to calls before press deadline this afternoon.