I was the first Republican notified of the break-in (not that I'm anyone so special; they got my name and number off a list of people who volunteer at HQ, and they needed someone who worked there to come down and identify anything which might be missing). I called the County Party's Vice Chairman, and by the time I got there, he was there talking to the cops. All three of our local TV channels were there, as was our local newspaper (I showed the reporter around, so I may be quoted in the Spokesman-Review tomorrow). I was there from about 8:10 until about 3:30.
The time of the break-in was between 6 and 6:30 this morning. At 6, the head of the workmen who are renovating the building checked all the doors and they were fine. At 6:30, the painting crew arrived and found the evidence of the burglary.
The burglars pried away a door jamb and kicked in a door in an alleyway between two buildings. They then went up a set of stairs and down another set of stairs, kicked through some wallboard in the back of a closet, and slipped in between two studs.
They dumped some desk drawers and took about $100 in petty cash, then went upstairs and took our computer (which was placed fairly inconspicuously and covered with a cloth) and a TV set and placed them by one of the doors.
The exit they intended to use is difficult to unlock from inside. They may have heard the painters coming or been spooked by something else. In any case, they left the swag (apart from the money) sitting on the floor, slipped back through the closet wall and out a different door.
Today, the workmen closed off the alley door completely and replaced and reinforced the closet wall.
The police found three good fingerprints on the computer monitor, and they also took the TV to try to lift some prints from inside the little handle thingies. They also tookm the prybar, which the burglars had left.
Fortunately, we had another monitor, so we got the computer back up and running quickly.
Anything else I could say would be pure speculation.
RE: At 6, the head of the workmen who are renovating the building
Oh really?