Family loses belongings worth thousands in burglary at South Hill storage unit
Stephanie Moniz and her family packed everything they could from their four-bedroom house in Puyallup into a 10 by 15-foot storage unit before they moved in with family out of state.
Furniture, kitchen utensils and clothes were placed in the storage unit. Religious items that she prays to and her diploma from dental school were also stored, among other valuables.
That was 2019. When they returned to retrieve their belongings on Dec. 4 this year, hoping to bring them to their new home in California, many were gone.
“When I looked in there, all of the boxes were cut up with either a knife or a box cutter,” Moniz said. “I didn’t even have any clothes for me and my family to change when we got out there.”
The family lost over $20,000 worth of belongings, Moniz said.
“Everything I’ve ever worked for all my life being a registered dental assistant is all gone,” Moniz said. “Nothing can replace that. It’s all irreplaceable.”
Moniz, her husband, and two of her children lived in Puyallup. Her children’s baby hats, blankets as well as copies of their footprints and handprints were in the storage unit. They’re all gone. Her religious items and diploma are missing, too.
Moniz also said designer products she owned from brands such as Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade and Coach were taken.
She’s also a fan of professional basketball player Derrick Rose, and said jerseys she collected are gone, as are basketball cards her husband collected.
Household items such as their dining table, sofa and two love seats were left in the storage unit. Moniz said some bed comforters were also left behind.
Public Storage at 16311 Meridian Ave. E. is where they kept their belongings. Moniz said she asked to review their security camera footage, but an employee said that their security system changed months ago.
Moniz said the district manager at Public Storage offered to give her $745 to reimburse her for the rent she paid for the storage unit this month, but that the manager told her that’s all they could offer her.
When asked about what happened, the district manager at Public Storage directed The Herald to corporate. The company has not yet responded.
Moniz said she’s hoping to get some reimbursement through her renters insurance policy.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department met with Moniz and her family about eight hours after she called them on Dec. 4. Spokesperson Sgt. Darren Moss Jr. said the case was closed “due to lack of solvability.”
The Sheriff Department’s incident report lists televisions, handbags, jewelry and other items as missing from the unit — which had gone into a lien auction sale at times following several late payments but was never actually sold, Moniz told the investigator.
Moss said it was unlikely for them to figure out who the suspect or suspects are due to the time span during which the burglary could have happened. There was not a “good likelihood” they would have been able to find a witness, he said.
“We don’t have enough people to work every single case that comes in,” Moss said.
It is not uncommon for storage units to get burglarized, Moss said, when asked how often it happens. Outdoor units are more likely to get burglarized than indoor units, but that is not to say indoor units are immune to incidents like this, Moss said.
Moniz’s storage unit was indoors.
They initially moved to Puyallup to live near her brother-in-law. They wanted to be able to help care for him following a heart attack. He did not know anybody in Puyallup aside from his wife and child, Moniz said.
“My family and I decided … that we should move there to help him out with his therapy and just be there for him,” Moniz said. “But things happen.”
Moniz and her family left Puyallup and moved in with relatives in California for a time, and have since been able to move into their own three-bedroom home in California.
She said they’ve been getting by with placeholder household items they found through Facebook Marketplace for their new home, but that they’d been looking forward to moving in their own belongings from storage.
“Nothing is left,” Moniz said earlier this month. “I don’t know what to say to my kids, and it’s almost Christmas.”
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