HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) — Two Battle Creek residents, Terri Lorene Vantuinen 36, and Eric James Morgan, 38, have been arrested on suspicion of a series of thefts from storage facilities in three Southwest Michigan counties.
The Michigan State Police troopers from the Wayland Post, with the Barry Township Police, Barry and Allegan county sheriff’s deputies investigated multiple storage unit burglaries over the last several months.
On April 19, 2020 two suspects were caught in the act of breaking into storage units near Lake Doster in Allegan County, according to police. The suspects were not arrested at that time, because of COVID-19 restrictions at county jails.
The investigation continued and on May 15, 2020, police took Vantuinen and Morgan into custody, on suspicion of a burglary at a Hastings storage unit.
In total, police believe the suspects are responsible for multiple burglaries of storage units in Barry, Allegan and Calhoun counties.
The Barry County Prosecutor’s Office authorized charges for criminal enterprise and conspiracy, as the two suspects are currently held at the Barry County Jail.
State Police troopers searched suspects’ home, recovering several thousand dollars of suspected stolen property including: guns, ammunition, jewelry, furniture, electronics, tools and sporting equipment.
Police are still cataloging property.
Anyone who discovers that their storage unit has been burglarized should call MSP Wayland Post at (269) 792-2213 to determine if their stolen property has been recovered
Authorities said some burglaries may not yet be discovered or reported yet, because of the stay-home order in place.
Anyone who does find their rented storage unit burglarized should contact their local police department to make a report.
MSP officials are asking storage renters who discover a lock on their unit that they did not put there to contact police first before attempting to open the unit.
Police will contact victims who have already filed a police report so they can identify property, once it is properly processed, police said. The investigation continues, but so far, burglaries at the following locations have been identified as linked to this case.
Allegan
- Gun Lake Discount Storage-Wayland
- Wayland South Self Storage-Wayland
- M&M Storage-Shelbyville
- Lake Doster Mini Storage-Plainwell
Barry
- Mid Lakes Mini Storage-Delton
- Hastings Storage-Hastings
- Clear Lake Storage-Dowling
- Riverfront Storage and Sons-Hastings
- Lakeridge Self Storage-Middleville
- Tires 2000 Storage units-Middleville
Calhoun
- West Point Corner Storage-Battle Creek
*Article contributed to by Peg McNichol
