Storage units nationwide are being burglarized at alarming rates.

As local law enforcement tries to get ahead of the crime trend, a recent victim is sounding alarm bells saying property managers at storage facilities need to do their part to help protect your property.

Kimberly Leavell shared details of her loss with Fox San Antonio’s Problem Solver Darian Trotter in hopes of raising awareness.

“Every single box,” said Kimberly Leavell.

A storage unit once filled with neatly stacked boxes, now looks like a tornado blew through; leaving this burglary victim picking up the pieces, to see what if anything can be salvaged.

“They had time to go through every single box,” Leavell said. “And then place the lock back on the unit.”

The roughly 80 to 100 boxes full of military memorabilia; priceless items Kimberly Leavell collected during tours of duty. Thieves even made off with the American flag presented to Leavell at retirement.

She’s having a hard time listing all of the items stolen from the storage unit she thought would be safe.

“I had crystal, I had porcelain dolls all over the world I collected porcelain dolls,” Leavell said. “I had rare perfume, that I got when I was in Dubai and Kuwait.”

“Some things were given to me by my mother and father,” Leavell added.

It is too much to believe…

“Both of my parents are deceased and i got a couple of items from soldiers that died,” Leavell said.

Far too hard to understand.

“Those are items that you have that money can’t buy,” Leavell explained.

Kimberly says she keeps part of her prized possessions at her home; but a large amount was inside her north-east side storage unit.

The unit she routinely checked for peace of mind.

“Every two to three weeks,” Leavell said.

During her last visit she removed her lock to this…

“And there is was, nothing was there,” Leavell said. “Nothing!”

She contacted Public Storage property managers and San Antonio Police and says that’s when she found out from police there had been a rash of burglaries at the facility; and that not all of the security cameras mounted outside were working.

Kimberly says she pressed property managers about the lack of transparency.

“I also asked the question why wasn’t I notified if somebody storage got broken into,” Leavell said. “They said that wasn’t their policy to tell you.”

Had she known, she says she and other renters could have made decisions about what items they left in the storage.

Simply put, irreplaceable items could have been removed.

“The last public storage I placed my things in if there was a break-in they had a massive email go out telling others there was a break-in,” Leavell said.

We checked in with San Antonio Police to see how many burglary calls officers responded to within two years of Kimberly’s burglary.

We checked several Public Storage locations. On the north east side where Kimberly rented police were called 58 times for burglaries. On the north-west side near Ingram Mall 43 times, and near north-west 20 times.

We reached out to Public Storage ; sending several calls and emails, but the management team including the corporate office, refused to comment.

“I think they failed us as tenants to make sure that our stuff was safe guarded,” Leavell said.

Kimberly is sharing her story to warn others to think twice about what kind of items are placed in storage units.

“I don’t want to see anybody else have to go through this,” Leavell said. “The pain, the agony and the hurt.”

Storage units require renters sign a lease agreement that essentially waves liability in the event of a break-in.

Renters insurance is strongly encouraged, and Kimberly Leavell did have insurance.

She however, will point out some items are simply not replaceable.

She strongly recommends reconsidering what you keep in your storage unit.