ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday issued a warning about an increase in burglaries from rental storage facilities.
The uptick in thefts started during the COVID pandemic and "hasn't stopped," the sheriff's office said in a news release.
“We’ve never seen it happen at this level before," said Sgt. Brett Cohn in the release. "We need to educate the public and take away the opportunity for these types of crimes. It’s the only way it’s going to stop.”
So far this year, the sheriff's office has investigated 59 reports of burglaries from storage units. That's coming on the heels of dozens of burglaries per year since 2020:
- 2020: 115
- 2021: 150
- 2022: 144
- 2023: 138
The most common way burglars get access to storage facilities is to rent a unit online using a fake or stolen identity, the sheriff's office said. They then use their rented unit to store stolen property that they take from other units, or they park a vehicle next to a fence and throw over the stolen goods.
“The best advice we can give people is, only use a storage facility for furniture and large items. Never store anything meaningful or valuable inside. If you look closely, it states that on the contracts you sign before you rent,” said sheriff's office investigator Nelson Trumbull.
The sheriff's office also warned to never put firearms in a storage unit. If you must, store them securely in a locked safe. Anyone who is negligent with storage could be charged with not properly securing firearms.
The sheriff's office said it's investigating a theft at Greenbox Self Storage, 8115 S. Chester St., where two people burglarized a storage unit April 19. They stole a computer and stored it in a unit that one of them had rented using a stolen driver's license. They returned on May 14 to collect the stolen computer.
Photos of the suspects are below:
In a separate investigation, the sheriff's office said it issued a search warrant at Public Storage, 9600 E. Costilla Ave. in Greenwood Village, after a thief burglarized two storage units and stole more than $50,000 in property. The thief put the stolen goods inside another unit he rented nearby, which investigators found when serving the warrant.
The sheriff's office said it is working to identify the thief.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office offered the following tips to people who store items in rental units:
- Never put anything sentimental, meaningful or of any monetary value in a storage unit.
- Never store anything with personal information in it, such as identification cards, checkbooks, etc.
- Photograph and document all your belongings, including serial numbers.
- Check on your storage unit once a week at a minimum.
- If you notice something suspicious, let someone know.
- Get an insurance policy for the value of your belongings in case your unit gets wiped out.
- Install a camera inside your storage unit.
- Consider placing an Apple AirTag on certain property within the unit so if stolen, it can be tracked.
- Install a motion sensor on the door so it alerts you when someone tries to gain access.
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