Woman without renters insurance victim of storage unit theft

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Little Rock police are investigating a storage facility break-in that occurred last week.

At least two units were broken into at the Westside Mini-Storage facility sometime between Friday and Sunday, according to LRPD.

One of the victims is Josephine Herring, who said she had $30,000 worth of items stolen from her unit. Items included a suitcase full of clothes, international silverware, her bed, medical books and multiple totes filled with a variety of other belongings.

"I'm frustrated, I'm angry at what happened to me," Herring said. "This is my whole life."

Herring had only been utilizing the storage facility for her personal belongings since December.

She's been in the process of moving out of the Pleasant Pointe Apartments. The intention was to enjoy moving into her new apartment on Jan. 2. But those plans were ruined as much of what she was going to haul into her living quarters was stolen.

Management advised Herring to invest in her own renters insurance .

The storage facility rental agreement states the company has no liability for damaged or lost property unless it was directly caused by an entity associated with the company itself.

Colliers International, which manages Westside Mini-Storage provided an emailed statement:

“Sometime on or around December 30, Westside Mini Storage experienced a break-in at its facility. There were no obvious signs of the intrusion and the management team at Westside has turned over the gate activity log to LRPD detectives for the dates in question and is cooperating fully with the investigation. As of this date, two units have reported stolen items and we are in the process of contacting all tenants to ensure that there are no others. As more details come to light during the investigation, Westside and it’s management firm, Colliers International, will take appropriate steps to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future.”

Insurance agent Nora May emphasized that while policies and claims vary by company, it's still important to consider investing in renters insurance.

"If you have guns, if you have a really nice computer, sound systems -- you can have individual items listed and you are guaranteed that replacement value on there, which a lot of people don't realize," May said.

Meanwhile, Herring said she feels slightly misled based on her previous conversations with management regarding security of the storage facility.

"The previous manager that was there, she said so far, they have not had any break-ins, not anything like there happen so I trusted her, that's more important I trusted her."