A Dana Court business owner is scrambling to run his business after losing computer equipment to burglars twice in one week.

Raymond Foote, who owns Southern Maine Newspaper Printing Company, said, on April 18, he came to work and discovered that someone had entered the building where his business is located and had taken a personal computer and monitor, some other miscellaneous computer equipment and power tools. Foote said the burglars did not take a Macintosh computer that was also in the office at that time.

Foote said that while he never recovered the power tools and some of the computer equipment, he did find the personal computer and monitor in a mail sack in the woods near his business. He said he brought the equipment back into the office, and except for some small damage to the monitor, the equipment was still in good working condition.

After replacing the missing equipment for his computer, Foote thought his problems were over, until he came into work on Monday.

When he got to work this week, Foote made another unfortunate discovery – someone had once again entered his office over the weekend and stolen the personal computer again. The second time they also took the Macintosh computer and the equipment necessary to operate the computers.

While he was not sure how the thieves entered the building the first time, Foote said the second time there was evidence that the burglars entered the building through a window that had been pried open. Unlike the prior burglary, Foote said he was not as fortunate to find the missing computers, which were valued at about $3,000.

Foote said the loss of the computers has seriously affected his business. He said he gets many orders via e-mail or on computer disk, and without the computers, he is unable to work. “It’s kind of crippling my business,” he said.

Foote’s father, former American Journal Publisher and Editor Harry Foote, owns the building where his business is housed. Raymond Foote said this is the first time in the 13 years he’s been there that he has had a problem. “I’m devastated,” he said. “I’m particularly dismayed because it’s a wonderful neighborhood. To think that there are sneak thieves out there (is upsetting).”

The case is under investigation by the Westbrook police. Anyone with any information should call the police at 854-0644.