A paid activist working on behalf of the liberal Maine People’s Alliance has been charged after she allegedly stole money from a woman’s purse while collecting signatures.

Stein was at the woman’s Water Street apartment on Friday evening when the alleged theft occurred. She is accused of taking $37 from the woman’s purse while the woman’s attention was directed elsewhere, Ellsworth police Lt. Harold Page said Monday.

In September 2012, Stein was arrested on a charge of receiving stolen property after her husband, Maxwell Stein, allegedly stole more than $50,000 worth of merchandise from his Holden landlord. The following month, she was arrested in connection with an incident in Bangor in which she and her husband were accused of making off with pills that another man had in his possession.

Stein, who has previously been implicated in property theft crimes, somehow managed to retain employment with the MPA, which subsequently sent her to homes across the Bangor area without conducting a criminal background check.

The Maine People’s Alliance is a well-known liberal influence group. Although it is aligned with Maine’s labor unions and Democratic politicians, including U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, it is funded by anonymous donors. S. Donald Sussman, majority owner of the Portland Press Herald, is known to financially support the dark money group.

This is not the first time an activist’s behavior has reflected poorly on the organization. In September, The Maine Wire uncovered video of a high-profile MPA activist ridiculing and threatening a Grey Hound bus employee.