Thursday, 4:30 PM
Break-in at Romney campaign headquarters in North End
(Evan Richman/Globe Staff/file)
Mitt Romney's campaign headquarters at 585 Commercial St. in the North End.
By Andrew Ryan, Lisa Wangsness, and Maria Cramer, Globe Staff
The presidential campaign headquarters of Mitt Romney were burglarized overnight in the North End, according to a campaign spokesman.
There was "forced entry" into the three-story waterfront building at 585 Commercial St. and several computers and a television were stolen, said spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom. The break-in, which occurred late Sunday or early Monday, did not appear to be politically motivated, he said.
"By all appearances this is a routine burglary," Fehrnstrom said. "There were a number of items that were left untouched -- files and the like."
Fehrnstrom referred additional questions to Boston police. He declined to described how the burglar or burglars broke into the building.
A law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case said someone at Romney's campaign headquarters reported the crime in a 911 call at 9:40 a.m. and said that $20,000 worth of equipment was stolen. According to a preliminary police report, entry was made through a third-floor window and eight laptops and a 32-inch television were stolen. A Crime Scene Unit responded to process the scene, and detectives from District A-1 are conducting interviews.
Romney has finance events today in Boston and New York. Another spokesman, Kevin Madden, declined to provide details, saying the events were not on the public schedule and that Romney would not be available for comment.
A "routine" break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Building on June 17, 1972, led to the end of Richard M. Nixon's presidency.
Last month, a burglar broke into the Hartford office of Senator Chris Dodd, a Democrat who is also running for president. A homeless man was accused of stealing a television and a computer and charged with larceny, burglary, and criminal mischief. Police do not believe that the break-in was politically motivated.
On July 6, thieves broke into Barack Obama's headquarters in Davenport, Iowa. The Rocky Mountain News reported at the time that two laptop computers and campaign literature were taken from the campaign of the Illinois Democrat.
And in February of this year, the New Hampshire Democratic Party reported a burglary at its Concord office.
