Irvine storage units pillaged by a pair of thieves
Police are searching for two men accused of pillaging through thousands of storage units in Irvine.
The alleged theft happened earlier this week at a Public Storage located on Jamboree Road. One victim said that one-of-a-kind collectibles worth as much as $10,000 is missing from his locker.
"It appears the suspects went inside and took their time," said Irvine Police Department Sgt. Karie Davies. "Basically, opened up 32 units, damaged the locks and bolts and had the time to rummage through these storage units and picked what they wanted."
A camera recorded the thieves arriving Monday night in the van which was stolen from Denver last month. They entered a code to open the gate. Police believe they obtained the code after someone went online and fraudulently rented a storage space at the Jamboree Road location. For almost two hours, the pair allegedly pried open rented storage lockers inside the building and stole whatever they wanted.
Some of the renters did not have insurance to cover their losses. Authorities said the van was tacked in Arizona and Texas before making its way to Irvine. Police have not made any arrests or recovered any of the stolen property.
"If it's something that's very valuable, try to make room in your home for that or store it at another family member's home perhaps or a friend," said Davies. "And check on your unit regularly."
Irvine detectives will begin contacting the owners of the units that were burglarized to figure out what exactly was stolen and how big the losses are. Police said there are no cameras inside the building to give them clear images of the public storage thieves. KCAL News attempted to gain information from the storage company but was unsuccessful.
