$20,000 in Goods Stolen at S.D. Symphony Office

The troubled San Diego Symphony was dealt another blow this weekend when burglars broke into the dormant orchestra’s downtown offices and made off with nearly $20,000 worth of computers, typewriters and office materials, police said.

Already beset by financial problems and a canceled season, symphony employees had their dampened spirits lowered some more Monday when they walked into their offices on 7th Avenue to find their pencil sharpeners and coffee mugs had been stolen along with several typewriters and two computers.

“We’re in a very, very difficult time right now, and this is just another challenge we don’t need,” said Nancy Hafner, director of public relations for the symphony.

“It just seems there have been enough difficult times anyway to have to walk in and find this has happened.” Hafner said. “This is a distressing way to start the week.”

Burglars probably entered the building Sunday through a parking garage entrance on the fourth floor, a police spokesman said, adding that investigators have no suspects.

Hafner said one of the stolen computers had lists that now will probably have to be manually placed back into the symphony’s system.

“I’m up a creek,” she said.

Additional symphony records contained on the stolen computers will be easier to retrieve because they are probably stored on another system, Hafner said.

The unknown burglar or burglars were very calculated about what they took and didn’t ransack the building, Hafner said.

“It seemed like at every moment (Monday morning) we discovered something else missing. I was in my office two hours before I noticed my wall clock was missing.”

She said the thieves took strange items, such as food left in the building by employees, facial tissue and even two T-shirts that had been left lying around.

“I went into my desk, and I found containers of little things missing,” Hafner said, adding that the symphony’s insurance will cover the loss and employees will continue to work as usual despite the missing office equipment.

“This makes the whole administrative function of the office more challenging,” Hafner said.