In a quiet town like Del Rey Oaks, it’s a big deal when nearly $1 million worth of goods are stolen from a single business. So when police heard that was the case at Public Storage, a major investigation was launched.
“We will work on this until we can’t work on it anymore,” Del Rey Oaks Police Sgt. Bob Ingersoll says.
The spate of crime began in January and since then, 25 storage unit have been broken into. Ingersoll says they first heard about the string of break-ins from one of the victims – and not the business – which does not sit well with law enforcement.
“We were the last ones to find out about the break-ins,” Ingersoll says.
The business notified tenants via phone, email or postcard, Ingersoll says. One of those victims found $900,000 worth of medical equipment was stolen from his unit. Other tenants had mountain bikes worth thousands of dollars nabbed. And no suspects have been pinned.
It remains unclear how the thieves continue to access the gated business. Ingersoll speculates a former employee may have shared the after-hours password, because only people with an all-access code could enter at the time the thefts occurred.
To Ingersoll’s dismay, the business has no security cameras or alarm system set up. And to his surprise, the business has hiked up the rent cost per unit by $22 a month since the series of thefts.
Ingersoll is not aware if all victims have been notified about the break-ins and urges anyone who has a unit there to check their property and change their passwords. Public Storage declined to comment for this story.