Romney campaign headquarters burglarized

By Andrew Ryan and Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

The presidential campaign headquarters of Mitt Romney was burglarized overnight, a campaign spokesman said.

There was "forced entry" into the three-story waterfront building at 585 Commercial St. in the North End, and several computers and a television were stolen, said spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom. The break-in, which occurred late Sunday or early today, did not appear to be politically motivated.

"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 police source 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. today, reporting that $20,000 worth of equipment was stolen.

Romney has private fund-raising events scheduled today in Boston and New York, and a spokesman said that Romney would not be available for comment.

What the Nixon administration originally described as a "two-bit burglary" at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office building on June 17, 1972, eventually led to a White House cover-up and the end of Richard M. Nixon's presidency.

Other presidential campaigns have also been victimized.

Last month, a burglar broke into the Hartford office of Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat. 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 Iowa headquarters in Davenport. The Rocky Mountain News reported at the time that two laptop computers and campaign literature were taken.