Another break-in at Romney campaign headquarters
(Evan Richman/Globe Staff/file photo)
Mitt Romney's campaign headquarters at 585 Commercial Street was burglarized early this morning for the second time since September.
By Andrew Ryan and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
The burglary and two arrests at Mitt Romney's North End campaign headquarters this morning do not appear to be the work of covert political operatives trying to thwart Romney’s presidential bid.
Police arrived at the building on Commercial Street at 1 a.m. and stopped a blue Toyota Camry leaving a parking lot. When the suspects opened the car doors, two open bottles of Budweiser tumbled to the ground, according a police report. Inside the car, officers found two crowbars and a single Macintosh laptop commuter that had allegedly been stolen from an office at the campaign headquarters.
“We have no evidence to suggest that this was politically motivated,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said. “It has all the earmarks of a third rate burglary attempt. The suspects never even made it out of the parking lot.”
One of the men who was arrested -- Michael J. Sauer, 30 -- identified himself as a political independent on his voter registration, public records show. The second suspect, Daniel J. Bradley, 28, is not registered to vote in Massachusetts, records show. Bradley has six outstanding warrants for crimes that include possession of narcotics and breaking and entering, police said.
The men, who both live in Cambridge, were arraigned this morning in Boston Municipal Court. Wearing hooded sweatshirts, both men tried to shield their faces from the crush of reporters that covered the hearing. They were charged with breaking and entering with the intent to commit a felony and possession of burglar tools.
It was the second burglary at the building since September, when thieves stole seven laptop computers and their docking stations and a 37-inch plasma television, the personal property of Spencer Zwick, the candidate's finance manager and close personal adviser. At the time, the campaign also said the break-in was not connected to Romney's presidential bid.
It does not appear that the two break-ins are connected, police said.
This morning a security guard monitoring surveillance cameras at the campaign headquarters called 911 at 12:53 a.m. He told police he saw two men stealing a computer in a rear office of the building at 585 Commercial St., according to a police report. Police found pry marks on windows in the side and rear of the building.
Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesman, praised what he called the rapid response of Boston police.
