Police searching for Elsa City Hall burglar

ELSA - Someone broke into City Hall early Tuesday morning, and the acting city manager said he believes it was politically motivated.

A burglar broke through a window at the front of Elsa City Hall, Police Chief Mario Cavazos said. The break-in was discovered about 7:30 a.m., he said.

"They gained entry and that's about it," Cavazos said. "We haven't been able to determine anything missing. The only thing noticeable was the candy coin machine was tipped over and broken, but that's it."

Acting City Manager Paul Vazaldua said file cabinets and the safe also appeared to be tampered with, but it did not look like anything was missing.

"Based on the preliminary findings from the police chief and the investigator, I have reason to believe that this break-in was politically motivated," he said.

Whatever the suspected burglar was after remained unknown, Vazaldua said.

No computers or other office equipment were missing, and several coins remained on the floor beside the broken candy machine when police showed up to investigate the scene, Vazaldua said.

There are no surveillance cameras installed at City Hall, making it tough to know whether the crime was committed by one or several people, Cavazos said.

Vazaldua said he does not know why anyone would need to commit a burglary to obtain records from the city - easily obtainable through a public information request.

"It's kind of confusing for us, because everything at City Hall is a public record," he said.