Thefts lead to increased patrols at storage facility near Iowa City

Seven thefts have been reported this month at a storage facility on the outskirts of Iowa City, and renters say the company that runs it has been negligent in protecting their property.

Molly Rossiter, of North Liberty, has been renting with Red Dot Storage, at 4181 Alyssa Ct. near Iowa City, since the end of May. Last week, on Aug. 9, she went to the storage lot to put a few more things in her garage and discovered between $8,000 and $10,000 worth of property was missing — and everything else in her garage had been rifled through.

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“There were things that had sentimental value, some that were stolen and some that were just disrespected. I saw both of my kids’ high school diplomas were on the ground, opened up and stepped on,” Rossiter said. “It hit in both ways. It hit us from a value perspective, but then it also hit us from an emotional perspective.”

Rossiter, who previously worked as a reporter and still occasionally writes freelance articles for The Gazette, said she was worried that something might be wrong as soon as she arrived at the storage lot that day because the gate to the lot — which is supposed to be locked until opened with a code from a renter — was open.

“Then we went to go look at our unit, and the lock was gone, and then my heart just sunk. I knew something was going to be wrong,” Rossiter said.

Rossiter didn’t remove much from the garage that day, because she knew she’d need to take pictures for insurance. She got an inexpensive lock to put on the unit, knowing that most of the valuable things already had been taken.

But then on Sunday, Rossiter returned to move some of her stuff out of the garage, and saw her things had been rifled through again. A few lower value items, like a box of CDs and some small appliances, were now missing.

“You trust that your property is going to be safe. That’s why you pay that rental fee, right? You go to a gated community and place that’s supposedly secure,” Rossiter said.

Red Dot Storage LLC bought the property, which used to be called Garage MaHaul Self Storage, in 2019. A representative of Red Dot Storage told The Gazette over the company’s online chat Thursday that it has no information to share about the thefts and is working closely with law enforcement. When called, a company representative told the newspaper to send an email instead, which was then not returned.

Jon Lonngren, of Iowa City, had been renting there since before the change in ownership and said things started going downhill after the change.

“The guy who ran it before, when it was Garage MaHaul, he was always there. With a snap of the fingers he would take care of any problems. It was always locked up tight. It had cameras and everything,” Lonngren said. “That place has just gone down the toilet since they took over.”

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Lonngren said the gate around the property broke last year and wasn’t fixed for months, even after multiple people reached out to Red Dot to complain. It stayed fixed for a few months before Lonngren started noticing it was again open most of the time.

“About June 20, I got a text from them that said my unit was found without a lock. That is something that shocked me, because both my business partner and I, who store stuff out there for our business, are very meticulous,” Lonngren said.

When he went out to check on the lock, he saw that someone had been in his unit and a few things were stolen. He didn’t file a police report at the time because the value of the items missing was only about $100.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office started increasing patrols in the area about a month ago, after an increase in property crime at the facility, the Sheriff’s Office said. The office made routine patrols in that area before, but those patrols have now increased to several times each week. No arrests have been made yet in relation to any of the thefts.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, there have been 72 calls for service to Red Dot so far in 2023, and 17 of those were initially categorized as theft or burglary. Seven of those theft reports were taken in August.

Rossiter said she’s worried that might represent only a small portion of the thefts that have happened, since there may be people, like Lonngren, who didn’t report and there may be some who haven’t yet discovered a theft.

“My bigger fear, honestly, are the people who don’t know about it yet, because a storage unit isn’t something you do go visit on a weekly basis or even monthly basis. You put your stuff there and it’s out of the way. That’s what you use it for,” Rossiter said.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com