Assemblyman Flora’s Modesto office broken into, vandalized

California Assemblyman Heath Flora’s district office in Modesto was broken into and vandalized early Thursday morning.

Two suspects approached the office at 3719 Tully Road at about 4 a.m., said California Highway Patrol Officer Chuck Leon. The CHP investigates matters involving state offices.

The suspects, seen on surveillance video, took about an hour to remove a large glass window by cutting around its frame, then entered the office and spray-painted the walls. There were computers, iPads and other valuables in the office, but nothing was taken, Leon said.

A press release from Flora’s office says the break-in follows two suspicious package incidents since the beginning of the year that the assemblyman feels were meant to intimidate his staff.

“The property damage ... was extensive, and the graffiti had racial undertones,” reads the press release. “The building’s security system activated an alarm and likely scared away the vandals. Flora’s office believes the act was not intended to be a theft but an escalation in the perpetrators’ attempt to intimidate.”

“This type of activism is unbecoming of who we are as Californians and who we are as Americans,” Flora said in the release. “My district staff prides itself on working above and beyond for constituent contact and community involvement. Attacking my district office in this manner only hurts our ability to serve our constituents’ needs in our district. This clear effort to intimidate my staff, is reprehensible and sad.”

Leon said investigators processed the crime scene, taking photos and lifting fingerprints. They also collected blood evidence, possibly from a suspect who might have cut himself in the process of breaking in.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Assemblyman Flora’s Modesto office broken into, vandalized."