20 May 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Porsha Norwood says her family lost about $60,000 when three of their storage units were broken into and cleaned out. One last year and two recently. They filed police reports but so far have not heard back on the property loss.
“Insurance will only cover about $5,000,” said Norwood. “They took off the hinges of the door and got in. And they didn’t even cut off the lock. They took the hinges off of it. So that one was a really big loss.”
Norwood says she had signed memorabilia, including boxing gloves and Kobe Bryant-signed jerseys.
“So we have jerseys, and we have all these other things. And they tell us, ‘Hey, we can only cover $5,000 worth,'” added Norwood. “And I know a lot of people would be like, ‘Why would you put those types of things in storage?’ I know, but we are literally in the process of getting a house built, so we were in this little, tiny apartment that is just full of stuff at the time.”
Norwood says she thought she was doing the right thing by getting storage units that are behind fencing and a locked gate. She also bought a high-dollar lock to go on the storage door.
The Wichita Police Department (WPD) reports indicate nearly two dozen storage unit thefts at the same location in the past year.
“I’m keeping the police reports we filed and talking to insurance,” said Norwood. “We just got cleaned out. There’s nothing left worth saving. I mean I can go get a new suitcase and luggage, that’s not the problem. There’s nothing. One of the storage units, they left a chair. Out of a whole storage unit, they left a chair.”
Insurance experts in Wichita say to do homework before you rent any facility to store your belongings.
“So with your homeowner’s policy, generally, you’re going to find a lot of those carriers are going to have what is ten percent of your contents coverage,” said Justin Dame with Wiggans Farha Insurance Group. “So if you’ve got $200,000 in coverage on your homeowner’s policy, then you’ll have 20% of your off-site, premise coverage that’s going to cover things that are stored in like a storage unit.”
Norwood says homework is not always the first thing on your mind when you get storage for your belongings.
“Research your storage company. Research where you’re putting your treasured items at,” said Norwood. “Most people, when they pick a storage unit, it’s a quick move. There’s not homework being done or research being done. It’s a storage facility that’s close to where I need to be. And that’s fine. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. I can not stress enough how important it is to research the storage facility where you will be putting your personal belongings.”
Norwood has a video she is sharing with WPD and says she hopes her story is a lesson to others.
“Never would we have seen this coming,” said Norwood. “Never.”