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Democratic Party headquarters in Harrisburg burglarized

By Amy Worden, Inquirer Harrisburg Bureau

Posted: September 14, 2012

HARRISBURG - "Police investigate break-in at Democratic Party headquarters."

For those of a certain age that headline may sound familiar.

Only this time, almost 40 years after GOP operatives burglarized the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, the target was Pennsylvania state Democratic Party headquarters in Harrisburg.

City police say on July 11, party officials reported someone had entered their eighth-floor downtown Harrisburg offices overnight and removed two laptops and a camcorder.

No signs of forced entry were found, police said.

State party officials say this crime was no Watergate on the Susquehanna River.

"From everything we understand, it was a run-of-the-mill burglary," party spokesman Mark Nicastre said, declining to answer further questions.

It was unclear why police did not announce the two-month-old break-in until Tuesday.

Contact Amy Worden at 717-783-2584, aworden@phillynews.com, or follow follow @inkyamy on Twitter.