Mantua police have recovered thousands of pieces of property stolen from dozens of area storage units and a suspect has been arrested, according to the police Facebook page.
Phillip Wolfe has been charged with 11 counts of burglary, 11 counts of criminal mischief and seven counts of theft, according to a police incident narrative. He was taken into custody on Jan. 2 after officers answered a call of a suspicious person at Mantua Self Storage on Main Street.
Arresting officer Cpl. Adam Hasselman determined that Wolfe was being sought for questioning in other unit burglaries and thefts at the business. A police investigation concluded that nine spaces at Mantua Self Storage were burglarized and that five of them had about $4,000 worth of items stolen.
Police say Wolfe was also traced to a reported theft at Cube Smart on Bridgeton Pike, where officer Gregory Sweeney determined that he was responsible for thefts and burglaries similar to those at Mantua Self Storage. Wolfe himself also rented units at both Cube Smart and Mantua Self Storage to house stolen items, police said after they obtained search warrants for the spaces.
As of Jan. 15 , some of the stolen items were immediately returned to their owners, while others are housed at the Mantua police department for evidence. Officers say there are area storage unit owners who may have no idea that their units have been burglarized and their belongings stolen given that there are other thefts being investigated.
Any who owns a storage unit at either Mantua Self Storage or Cube Smart and believes they may be a victim of theft are asked to appear at police headquarters to present proof of unit ownership and recover items.
Questions on the case can be emailed to Sweeney at [email protected].
