Around $2,000 worth of family belongings were stolen from a storage unit in North Philadelphia, the victim, Michelle Zayas, told NBC10.
Zayas allowed one of our news crews to see the damage up close at her storage unit at a CubeSmart at the 4300 block of Aramingo Avenue. Zayas said that she arrived at around 1 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 12, to find that her unit had been ransacked.
“I had sneakers, a scooter and everything in here, and they took it all,” Zayas said. “They left the sneaker boxes. I had a lot of new clothes. Basically, they went through everything in here and took whatever they wanted.”
According to Philadelphia police, the woman reported that one or more people stole thousands of dollars worth of family belongings she had placed in storage while moving.
But for Zayas, the situation goes beyond her own losses. At least 15 other units were also vandalized for reasons that remain under investigation.
“They’re breaking into the units and taking everything out. There are a lot of them down there, down there,” she said .
Zayas said she now hopes those responsible will be identified through surveillance footage and that other victims will report what happened so immediate action can be taken against what she described as “crime that seems to never end.”
CubeSmart did not respond to our request for comment by the time this article was published. Police have not announced any arrests, but they are asking anyone with information to contact authorities immediately.
This story was partially translated from Spanish with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool. An NBC digital editor reviewed the translation.