Alex Markoff had always returned to his home in Maryland with good memories of Salt Lake City after visiting the Beehive State. But this time, he returned with nothing more than memories … memories of his possessions that he once had but were stolen.

"Everyone got at least one or two bags stolen," he said. "Most of us just returned with the clothes we were wearing."

For the past several years, Markoff, who runs a summer camp in the Washington D.C. area, has taken his employees on a weeklong trip to Utah as a thank you to his staff. Normally they spend their time hitting the slopes. But this year, Markoff and 13 others rented two RVs, drove to Zion National Park and other sites in Utah, and drove back.

On Thursday, the day before they were scheduled to go home, the group took in a movie at Cinemark Sugarhouse Movies 10, 2227 S. Highland Drive. They parked their rented recreational vehicles, which had large pictures on the side advertising that the vehicles were rentals, and went in to watch a 4:30 p.m. movie.

When they came out of the theater about two hours later, they found the locks on both RVs had been broken off and nearly all of their personal belongings inside were stolen.

"We just got hammered," he told the Deseret News from his home in Maryland. "Everything was cleaned out."

An estimated $20,000 worth of merchandise was stolen, including five laptops, a dozen iPods, wallets, cameras, and 19 luggage and tote bags containing other personal items.

Markoff believes for that much to be taken, more than one person would have had to have participated in the burglaries, and they couldn't have just walked away with it down the street.

The shopping area around the theater, located in the heart of downtown Sugar House, was busy that afternoon, he said. Markoff believes someone had to have seen something and is hoping witnesses will step forward.

Salt Lake police Tuesday said investigators were still in the process of obtaining surveillance video from nearby businesses to see if the break-ins were captured on tape.

Markoff said he realizes that no city is exempt from crime. The severity of his crime, however, and the fact it happened in broad daylight in a crowded shopping area and no one reported anything, left him feeling like he had been kicked in the groin, he said.

"To say it was a horrible experience … obviously it was," he said. "It's just one of those things. I don't know if there's anything we can do. To top it all off, the place we rented the RVs from charged us to fix the doors."

More important than the computers themselves that were stolen were the years of pictures and other documents Markoff stored on them that he didn't have anywhere else.

"The monetary figure pales in comparison to the family pictures and stuff we'll never have," he said.

Markoff is inviting any witnesses to the crime to call him directly at 240-793-4666.

As for whether he and his group will return to Utah, Markoff said he will, "but it'll take awhile."

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com