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Police arrest man suspected of burglarizing Va. Trump campaign office

By Emily Davies
From Washington Post

Police arrest man suspected of burglarizing Va. Trump campaign office

Toby Shane Kessler, 39, was arrested in California for the Aug. 11 incident, said a spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff's office.

Police have arrested the man they suspect of burglarizing President-Elect Trump's campaign office in the Northern Virginia suburbs four months ago in a break-in captured on camera, said a spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff's office.

Toby Shane Kessler, 39, was taken into custody Saturday in California for the Aug. 11 incident, said Thomas Julia, the spokesman. Julia declined to elaborate on Kessler's charges or a possible motive, saying "we want to confirm how California will handle its charges as well as charges in Virginia and elsewhere that are pending against him."

Kessler stands accused of breaking into Trump's presidential campaign office in an Ashburn office park on a Sunday evening, about 30 miles from downtown Washington, according to the Loudoun County sheriff's office. He was inside for less than an hour, according to a preliminary police investigation. Authorities have not said whether he took any items.

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Trump's presidential campaign leased the Ashburn office, which also serves as the headquarters of the Virginia 10th District Republican Committee. The committee did not immediately respond to questions about Kessler or his potential motive.

"It is rare to have the office of any political campaign or party broken into," Sheriff Mike Chapman said in a statement at the time of the incident. "We are determined to identify the suspect, investigate why it happened, and determine what may have been taken as well as what may have been left behind."

Kessler was arrested in 2020 by Arlington County police for being a fugitive felon and again in July for failing to appear in court, court records show. He also has a history of misdemeanor criminal offenses from Prince George's County to Brevard County, Florida, including second-degree assault, public intoxication and entering and damaging a property.

Kessler has no fixed address and had been in the D.C. area since at least 2018, officials previously said. His last known address is in San Francisco.

Erin Smith, who is representing Kessler on a pending misdemeanor charge in Fairfax County, declined to comment, saying the case is still pending. Details of his current charge were not available online and calls to the policing agency that a Loudoun sheriff's spokesperson said apprehended Kessler were not returned.

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