Burglars Hit Metro Atlanta Newspaper

A Metro Atlanta newspaper normally covers the news, but they ended up becoming a part of it when burglars stole their computers and important records. The Atlanta Latino newspaper was still counting its losses Friday.

Thursday was moving day for the small staff at Atlanta Latino, but before the security system could be installed, the company was ripped off.

On Thursday the staff, with the help of a moving company, took everything from their old office in Norcross and moved it to the new Doraville location. Before security was installed, someone broke in.

The paper's owner, Farid Sadri, said the burglars stole 10 desktop computers used for graphics, newspaper layouts, news writing and accounting. Sadri said some sensitive information was stolen.

"Phone numbers for sure, social security probably not, but other types of personal information likely," said Sadri.

The Spanish newspaper is published twice monthly and has a circulation of 30,000. With a staff of under a dozen, the theft cuts to the core.

"We can start trying to recover that information from other paperwork we have, but it's going to take a long time," said employee Carolina Gordillo.

Sadri said he wasn't sure why the burglars seemed to leave in a hurry, but he said a computer was left on, with a children's game on that keeps repeating. The noise from the game may have scared the burglars off.

As scheduled, the security system was eventually installed at the new location.

Gwinnett police said so far they have no solid leads in the burglary. Anyone with information on the thefts should call the Gwinnett County Police Department.