Florida man bought Chicago storage unit filled with collectible trains, only to find it nearly empty
A storage unit hunter from Florida thought he won the unit of a lifetime from a storage facility on Chicago's Northwest Side, but when the door slid open, he said it looked nothing like the pictures online.
Ray Margarit said, unlike the show "Storage Wars," bidding for repossessed storage units now takes place online, which allows him to buy abandoned units all over the country. He's even written a book on his more than two decades in the business
"We've been doing this for 22 years, and this is really the first time that's happened," he said.
Last month, Margarit thought he hit it big on a storage unit at an Extra Space Storage facility in the Peterson Park neighborhood.
"It had trains from wall to wall, front to back, all the way to the ceiling," he said. "Some collectible trains; probably at least 500 collectible trains."
He estimated the trains were worth $200,000, but when Margarit got to the unit, he said, "they opened the door, and it looked pretty empty."
"There wasn't much in there," he said. "It didn't look good at all."
The unit was not as advertised. Chicago police said it was reported that two men stole most of the collectible trains from unit 518 sometime between Aug. 31 and Sept. 4.
Margarit said he thinks somebody knew what they were looking for when they broke into the unit.
"Oh yeah. That's definite. That's definite. There's no doubt they knew the trains were in there," he said.
Margait was given the trains that were left behind for free, and was refunded the $13,000 he paid.
With the trains that were left behind in the unit, he said he's nearly made back about $20,000, but he wants police to find those stolen trains, because the payday could be worth a whole lot more.
"Well, I'd like the trains back. I don't mind spending the $13,000. I will give them that money back in an instant if I can get those trains back," he said
A spokesperson for Extra Space Storage said they are cooperating with police and providing any surveillance images and videos.
