LAWRENCE — Food, gift cards and hundreds of toys for the needy, as well as computers, electronics equipment and other items, were stolen from an Essex Street office building in what police said was most likely an inside job.
Not only did these grinches haul away valuables, they also trashed the building and left water faucets running to flood it.
Julia Polanco's eyes were red from crying as she described the damage caused by the thieves to her nonprofit Food for the World agency, which feeds the needy.
She and three other occupants of the three-story building at 447 Essex St., including a computer company, a recording studio and a school for chaplains, were hit late Sunday night or early Monday.
"It makes me upset because we're trying to do something good and look what they do," Polanco said yesterday. She recently celebrated the 14th anniversary of the nonprofit organization.
The food taken from the pantry will not affect today's weekly distribution to almost 500 families. As they dealt with the theft, volunteers were bagging cereal, canned foods, onions and carrots into bags, which they received from the Boston Food Bank.
"When I saw the mess, I said 'God, why?' and started to cry," said the Rev. Hector Marquez, president of the local branch of the International Chaplains Association — a program that trains men and women to become chaplains for hospitals, prisons, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes.
"This is not going to bring us down. We work for the community and there's a lot of need out there," Marquez said.
In addition to 480 toys taken from the chaplaincy group, other items stolen were 18 gold-plated badges valued at $80 each. They were going to be awarded at a graduation Saturday.
"We will still have the ceremony, I'll just give them the badges later," Marquez said.
According to the police report, Jon Mears and Jamie Reyes, who have a recording studio on the second floor, entered the building at 3 a.m. Monday, when they noticed water dripping from the ceiling.
Mears ran to his office and saw several broken windows, doors to other rooms left wide open, and water spilling into the hallways.
According to the police report, the water was coming from the bathroom sinks, which had been left running. Mears shut off the water before calling police.
Officer John Tully and Sgt. Robert Michaud searched the three-story office building at the corner of Essex and Hampshire streets. Meanwhile, officers Todd Allard and Eric Cerullo watched the back door.
"This one looks like an inside job given the fact that there was no forced entry," said police Chief John Romero. "And the damage overkill. Thieves want to get in and get out."
The building is owned by Richard and Wally Brown.
Wally Brown said they purchased the building five years ago and that 14 of the 20 office spaces are rented.
"This is terrible," said Brown of Richard Brown LCC. "This is such an important time of year and they are doing good work, it's something you hate to see."
Brown said he was surprised about the burglary because the building has an alarm system and someone who watches the building at night.
"We're trying to make everything better and unfortunately, this happens."
He said there was a break-in two years ago, but nothing compared with this.
Back then, chaplain badges also were stolen from Marquez's ministry and never recovered.
"I don't understand," said Marquez, who has lived in Lawrence for 26 years. After learning of the break Monday morning, and going to his office, Marquez said he felt 'frustrated' when he saw the mess.
"The first thing that went through my mind was, they turned everything upside down like if they were looking for something," he said.
One occupant who was wiped out the most by the thieves was Angel Peralta, owner of Syste-Comp, which sells computer equipment. Thieves took five desktops, two laptops, one for his business and another for his personal use, a 42-inch flat-screen television, eight monitors and five printers. Not to mention the bottles of energy drink and snacks he kept for when he worked late.
This is the first time Peralta's business has been broken into in the two years he has rented space in the building.
"I was so disappointed," said Peralta, who moved from Ecuador in 2000. "After working so hard for two years, to have it all gone. It's all materialistic and can be replaced. I will move on and start again."
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