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| This was the way we left our car on 6/3/23 at Colorado Springs Self Storage South |
The inside was completely trashed and there were white supremacy slogans and obscenities written in permanent marker all over the inside and of course the stereo was taken. The inside was full of an incredibly amount of junk. There seemed to be a lot of tools inside to steal things: bolt cutters, power tools, mini flashlights, work gloves, markers, and water bottles! There were children’s books and toys inside, female decorations, and make up! I was told the police removed the drugs and drug paraphernalia.
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| We were very, very sad, but we smiled with the car anyway as we said good bye to it. |
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My insurance is paying me money to buy a new car. I was told that since there was drugs and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle, we weren’t allowed to have it back. That is just as well, I don’t think we’d want that car anymore.
In my opinion, Colorado Springs Self Storage South should not be in business since apparently, storage units are broken into on a regular basis there. The rental agreement said we were required to provide our own lock, but I received a call from Ian, who manages this storage facility on 6/16/23 (a day after our car was stolen) saying they required the locks they provided. I wish I had been told that, since it was a round secure lock and would have been difficult to cut. I did believe that Colorado Springs Self Storage was trying to put blame on me for using my own lock instead of theirs since their security cameras and coded gate did nothing to protect my vehicle.
Tasha Patry, the regional manager of all the Colorado Springs Self Storage facilities called me on Tuesday 6/27/23 and told me she had watched the security footage the night before and saw the car being stolen in the footage and saw the car driven by two people the next day breaking into another storage unit and stealing more things and loading it into my stolen car! Why wasn’t this footage reviewed immediately around the time Ian called me suspecting that perhaps my storage unit had been broken into?
I hope the police will do a thorough investigation. The company’s regional manager, Tasha Patry, refused to give me a partial refund for June even though my car was only there from 6/3 to 6/15 (stolen on the 6/15). One of their employees named Raul Garcia was really rude to me when I asked him questions about my bill. He became very nervous when I asked when it was reported that my vehicle was stolen. Also, I was supposed to be given a senior discount and I did not receive that discount.
Colorado Springs Self-Storage Reimbursement Update:
On 7/6/23, I wrote the company’s regional manager, Tasha Patry, asking for a partial refund since my car was only stored at Colorado Springs Self Storage South from 6/3–15/23, and a refund was issued for half of the month! I paid a total of $164.15 and I was reimbursed for $82.08. I am glad I was reimbursed, but I wish this company had refunded the entire $164.15. I had asked Tasha for a full refund on 6/28/23, but received a text from her saying no to my request. I’m glad I tried again and got something back.
Correspondence and Receipt below:
Updates:
THIEVES NAMES WHO STOLE AND TRASHED MY CAR!
I received a series of Facebook Messenger texts on Sunday morning 7/2/23 from a person who said her brother and his girlfriend were arrested on June 30, 2023 for stealing a PT Cruiser in Colorado Springs and she wondered if it was my car that was stolen. (How many PT Cruisers were stolen in Colorado Springs in June? - Has to be mine!).
She told me the police notified her on 6/30/23 that her brother was arrested and his name is Zachary Koops and his girlfriend’s name is Sarah Schwartz. I looked up their profiles on Facebook and both do live in Colorado Springs.
After the texts, the person saying one of the thieves was her brother, seemed to have blocked me on FB, but she first said her name was Bayleigh Koops. She said some of the items I said were in my stolen car had been released to her by the police and the police had notified her that her brother had been arrested and he had stolen things from her and her grandmother’s storage unit. I was just curious if this communication was legit. I now know it was legit and I’m guessing that Zachary had the gate code to his grandmother’s storage and that is how the thieves were able to enter and exit and steal my car and break into other storage units.
Here are their booking details below. It looks like they appeared in court on 7/3/23. I found some records on Sarah Schwartz, and she has stolen vehicles in the past and been arrested! Unbelievable that she is still at large and still stealing!
Vehicle
Color: Green (but thieves painted it over with looked like black flat spray paint), Make: Chrysler, Model: PT Cruiser, Year: 2004, Type: Car
Another update: On 7/5/23, I received a call from Detective Baughman from the Colorado Springs Police Department. It turns out that the communications I received from Bayleigh Koops were legit and they did return some of her brother Zachary Koops things to her.
This is how the car was recovered: On Friday, 6/30/23, the police surveillance systems looking for stolen vehicles identified our car parked at a pawn shop at the 3900 block of North Academy in Colorado Springs. The police watched the car a bit and then noticed two individuals leaving the pawn shop. They followed the two individuals south on Academy to a gas station located at 3770 Citadel Drive North where they were getting gas. They were arrested there. I was told that they usually only arrest the driver of a stolen vehicle (which was the woman), but they also arrested the passenger since there were outstanding warrants for his arrest.
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| We were given this document at the Colorado Springs Police Impound Lot on Friday, 6/30/23 when we went there to release the car to our insurance company when it was determined it was a total loss |
I do not understand why the El Paso County Sheriff could not locate the car earlier since they had footage from Colorado Springs Self Storage South of the car being stolen and the name of the person who used a unique access code to remove my vehicle.
Added comment and update on my statement above: I received a call from Deputy Mima from the El Paso County Sheriff’s office at around 3:15 pm on 7/5/23. After he received the footage from Colorado Springs Self-Storage on 6/27/23, he had a suspect. His team watched the home of the suspect looking to see if the vehicle was driven in or out of that location and also monitored Colorado Springs Self-Storage South to see if the vehicle was taken in again for break ins. There was no progress. He was not notified by the Colorado Springs Police that the vehicle had been found and the thieves had been arrested. He first heard that the vehicle was found from me on 7/5/23 when I contacted him. Now I know why there was no progress since most likely Zachary Koops’ grandmother’s house was probably the house being watched.
Wonderful Update!
We purchased almost the exact same car on 7/3/23 from a private party and will be getting it soon. It feels better now to have the replacement. Photos of our replacement car below!
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