BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A Bakersfield woman says $50,000 worth of personal belongings were stolen from a storage unit she was renting in Southwest Bakersfield, and police believe the thief might be another customer of the storage business.
Court documents obtained by 23ABC News show the victim reported the theft on April 20. She told police the lock on her storage unit at the U-Haul storage facility on White Lane.
The documents show that she told Bakersfield Police officers she had $50,000 worth of property in the unit, including jewelry, silver bars, motorcycle gear, and possible firearms. The victim told police someone had cut the lock on the unit's door and removed all the items from the unit.
According to the court documents, the U-Haul manager told police he saw two vehicles at the victim's unit on surveillance video: One was a black 4-door pickup truck and the other a white, single-cab delivery box truck.
Those vehicles were recorded entering the business 17 times between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m. from April 17 to April 19. The manager said another customer used his access PIN code 17 times over that period.
The documents show the manager said that customer's unit is empty and as far as the manager knows, nothing has been put inside.
The manager told police "there should be no reason for him to be at the business at all" since he has yet to move anything inside the unit he is renting.
When shown a photo lineup of the suspect, the manager confirmed to police that is the same customer renting the empty unit.
On April 19, according to the documents, the manager checked that customer's unit and found the lock was removed. When the manager looked inside, he discovered that the wall between that unit and the next door unit was pried open and items from the adjacent unit were missing.
The allegedly stolen items have not yet been recovered and no arrests have been made at this time.
