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<\/p>\nBrittany Middlebrook said her family’s rented unit at the Public Storage location on Fort Caroline Road was burglarized.<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A Jacksonville family says thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of furniture, clothing, electronics and personal documents were taken from a storage unit they believed was secure.<\/p>\n
Brittany Middlebrook said her family had rented a unit at the Public Storage location on Fort Caroline Road for about nine months when she received a call from the facility on Aug. 3 telling her the unit had been burglarized.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI was devastated,\u201d Middlebrook said. \u201cWe worked hard to have our stuff and to keep our stuff, so it was very devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Middlebrook said she was told the burglary happened the night of Aug. 2.<\/p>\n
She said items taken from the unit included flat-screen televisions, clothing, shoes, furniture, cellphones and personal mail containing family information. She estimates the loss at about $8,000.<\/p>\n
Middlebrook said her family used its own lock on the unit.<\/p>\n
There was a fire extinguisher on the floor near the unit, according to Middlebrook, leading her to believe the lock may have been broken with the extinguisher.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess that\u2019s what they hit it with to break in, and they just took everything,\u201d Middlebrook said.<\/p>\n
Middlebrook said she filed a police report with the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office, but as of Tuesday night, no arrests had been made. We have requested a copy of the police report.<\/p>\n
Middlebrook said the experience has raised concerns about security at storage facilities and prompted her to urge other renters to take a closer look at where they keep their belongings.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople put their stuff in storage for their stuff to be safe and secure,\u201d Middlebrook said. \u201cYou\u2019ll never think that you have your stuff in a storage and your stuff actually gets stolen, so it\u2019s really sad and heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
First Coast News\u00a0asked management at the Fort Caroline Road facility about Middlebrook\u2019s concerns. An employee declined to comment and referred the station to Public Storage\u2019s corporate office.<\/p>\n
The station called the number provided but was referred back to the property manager. First Coast News left a voicemail and contacted Public Storage\u2019s media relations team twice within 24 hours. The company had not responded as of publication.<\/p>\n
The report comes after First Coast News reported in July on another Jacksonville family that said it lost about $56,000 in belongings during a burglary at an iStorage facility. That property is now under new ownership by Public Storage. First Coast News has not established any connection between the two reported burglaries.<\/p>\n
Middlebrook said she wants whoever is responsible for the burglary of her family\u2019s unit to be held accountable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey still haven\u2019t been caught,\u201d she said. \u201cYou really, really hurt me and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWhat renters can do <\/p>\n
People storing valuables can take several steps to document their property and reduce their risk:<\/p>\n
Use a sturdy, high-quality lock designed for storage units.<\/p>\n
Photograph or record video of items before placing them in storage.<\/p>\n
Keep an itemized inventory, including model numbers, receipts and estimated values.<\/p>\n
Review homeowners, renters or storage-insurance coverage before storing valuables.<\/p>\n
Visit the unit periodically and report signs of tampering immediately.<\/p>\n
Ask a facility about its access controls, lighting, cameras, door alarms and response procedures before signing a rental agreement.<\/p>\n
Anyone who believes they may have been the victim of a burglary can contact the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office non-emergency line at 904-630-0500.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brittany Middlebrook said her family’s rented unit at the Public Storage location on Fort Caroline Road was burglarized.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-388561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}