NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When a Nashville business owner asked a political candidate to take a sign off her property, she said she was accused of committing a crime.

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The incident involves a high-profile political race and a well-known woman running for office.

Karen Johnson is a Metro school board member who is running for the office of juvenile court clerk. Recently she placed a campaign sign in the front lawn of the Onyx House, a notable building in the Germantown of north Nashville.

The building is owned by Kathleen Wilkinson, and she was shocked to see the sign in the yard of the house. Wilkinson said Johnson never received approval to place the sign on her property.

Wilkinson said she does not support Johnson because she is one of the school board members who voted for the recent school rezoning. Wilkinson said her mother, Delois Jackson Wilkinson, was a former school board member who spent her life fighting for desegregation.

"Mrs. Johnson wants me to go against my mother's legacy," said Kathleen Wilkinson.

So, she called Johnson and asked her to take her sign off of her property.

"She cursed me out (and said,) 'I'm going to put your blank, blank, blank in jail, and you don't know who you are messing with,'" said Wilkinson.

So, Wilkinson removed the sign herself, since it was on her property. Johnson then filed a criminal theft report with Metro police.

"She wanted to have me arrested because I removed a sign from a building that my mother left me," said Wilkinson.

Wilkinson said Friday night that two Metro detectives knocked on her door investigating the theft of the Johnson sign.

Police said on Tuesday they have dismissed the report and will no longer investigate the case.

Johnson said she received approval from the property manager to place the sign outside the Onyx House. She said her focus is "to run a campaign in an honorable, lawful and respectful way as I will continue to do until the election."