Two senior staffers from The Harvard Independent said last night that a $1,500 computer is missing from the organization's offices in the basement of Canaday Hall.

The discovery of the missing computer came on the same day that the Harvard Lampoon, a semi-secret Bow Street social organization, distributed an authentic-looking parody of the Independent.

F. Timothy Santry '97, president of the Independent, said last night that the organization has contacted the Harvard police about a missing Macintosh IIci.

Santry said a police report has not yet been filed. He declined to comment when asked whether he believed that members of the Lampoon may have stolen the computer.

But one senior staff member of the Independent said last night that the organization will inform police about the prank.

"We are filing a police report, and we are telling the police that the Lampoon must have come down there," said the staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I don't know if it was a prank on their part or what."

A police officer contacted last night said that the Independent had reported that the computer was recovered, but senior staff members at the weekly newspaper, including Santry, denied the computer had been returned.

Lampoon members flatly denied any activity other than publishing an innocent parody.

"We're liars, we're cheats and we're horrible people, but we're not robbers," said Aaron Ehasz '95-'96, a Lampoon staffer who said he helped put together the spoof.

The Lampoon stole and held hostage The Crimson's president's throne for several months in 1994.

Both Santry and the senior staff member said that there appeared to be no forced entry into the Independent's offices in the basement of Canaday A. Santry said a police officer inspected the locks yesterday.

Lampoon staffers said last night that three of them entered the Independent's offices several days before spring break to copy the weekly's templates onto a floppy disk.

Aaron S. Kesselheim '96, a Lampoon staffer and former arts executive of the Independent, admitted that the three 'Poonsters used his key to enter the office.

He said his presence in the office was perfectly legal since he is still on the arts staff. Santry confirmed last night that Kesselheim's presence in the office was legal.

Lampoon members accused the Independent of being poor sports.

"They know I wouldn't do this sort of thing," Kesselheim said. "It's pettiness in not getting the joke."

"I sense they're plotting some kind of revenge," Ehasz said. "But you can't 'poon the 'Poon."

Santry said last night that he "can't judge whether we're poor sports or not."

"I thought it was fairly amusing, but I was disappointed that they didn't make the effort to recreate our styles themselves, but apparently took the easy way by taking stuff from our computers to recreate our designs," Santry said.

Other Independent staffers unanimously praised the parody in interviews earlier yesterday.

The Independent did not publish yesterday.

--C.R. McFadden contributed to the reporting of this story.