MOOSE JAW -- A Moose Jaw woman was surprised and overjoyed when thousands of dollars worth of her belongings were returned to her, months after they were stolen.
Three months ago, Julie Ramsay was left heartbroken and devastated after discovering her storage unit cleaned out by thieves.
A police investigation has reunited her with some of her stolen property.
"Definitely lots of emotions, for sure, even now I’m emotional," Ramsay said. "It is so great to have so much of my property returned."
Late rent payments on a storage locker led to the company placing their own lock on the unit. The next day, they discovered the lock had been cut and reported the break-in to Moose Jaw Police.
"That spiralled into an investigation where we realized there was a number of break-ins, not just at this facility, but other facilities around town and so now we’re going through the tedious process of trying to identify the property and locate the proper owner," Sgt. Sheldon MacNaughton, with the Moose Jaw Police Service’s Criminal Investigation Section, said.
MacNaughton said the scale of what was inside the three storage units is incredible.
"Right now we can confirm that five different break-ins have been linked to this storage bay," he said.
"I’ve never seen this much stuff, we’ve recovered stuff from houses and garages before, but this was the worst that I’ve seen."
Everything Ramsay owned was taken when her storage unit was broken into in June. Many of the larger items like her TV, bike and laptop aren’t there, but she’s thankful to have found some of the irreplaceable items.
"There were many treasures that I did recover, so that was just a wonderful feeling," Ramsay said.
As the investigation continues, police are also still sorting through the lockers in an attempt to reunite more people with their property.
"It’s actually been a very rewarding experience," MacNaughton said.
"We had another gentleman here who was actually quite depressed over all the stuff that he lost and he didn’t get it all back, but he retrieved at least about $6,000 worth of camping and fishing gear."
Ramsay said going through the items looking for her property has been a difficult experience.
"I feel terribly sad, I see so many treasures from other people that have had things stolen, so I can feel that sadness," she said.
"I credit the Moose Jaw Police for staying dedicated and for helping me recover a lot of my items."
The investigation into the stolen items continues with police having identified multiple suspects in connection with the case. No arrests have been made at this point.
