HOUSTON – Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen property were confiscated from a storage facility in northwest Harris County Thursday, according to Harris County Precinct 4 Constables.
A recreational vehicle and three trailers were among the priciest items taken, according to investigators.
April Kovachich, 18, was found living inside a stolen trailer within a storage unit of which she was not a tenant, authorities said. She was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine after investigators said she had a small amount of the drug.
Five motorcycles, two ATVs, an SUV and a golf cart were also among the items seized at Boat/RV Storage on Tower Oak Blvd. Investigators believe the property has been stolen from several different storage facilities in the Houston and Spring area over the past several months.
The tip came from the owner of the storage facility.
"She was noticing they were having a large increase in their electric bill and water bill," Pct. 4 Constable Sgt. Gary Spurger said. "When she started looking into it, she found somebody who was actually starting to squat on their property, meaning they were on the property without permission."
Three other men were believed to be living in the stolen trailers along with Kovachich, Sgt. Spurger said. However, the men have not yet been arrested.
Power washers, generators, a copy machine, several televisions and a large quantity of cell phones were among the countless other stolen items found stuffed inside some of the stolen trailers, according to Sgt. Spurger.
"They had actually targeted this facility in the past it appears," he said. "Because right where they were located, there were other places broken into. So, they were living where they were taking their stuff. They also had full counter surveillance, meaning they had outbound cameras to actually view the property all running on DVRs. They even had a couple of police radios."
It's going to take a week or two for investigators to go through all of the stolen items before deputies can try to figure who it belongs to, Sgt. Spurger said.