Gibson Eau Claire Sto-N-Go target of repeated break-ins
A self-storage facility in northern Butler County has become the target of multiple break-ins since late last year.
Washington Township native Stephanie Nail is still recovering after an unknown individual made off with thousands of dollars worth of items from her storage locker at the Gibson Eau Claire Sto-N-Go self-storage facility on Hughes Road in Venango Township.
“They took children's toys, children's clothes, Christmas trees and decorations … mostly stuff for my children,” Nail said.
Nail says she checked her locker for the possibility of missing items after seeing a Facebook post from someone else who kept their belongings in the facility.
“I know one other person who put out on Facebook that (her locker) was broken into,” Nail said. “That’s why we went up to check ours, to see if it was broken into and, unfortunately, it was.”
Nail estimates the monetary value of the stolen items to be roughly $2,000. When Nail’s husband contacted police, he was told there was little they could do for them.
“My husband called them earlier. We gave the report of what had been stolen, and we let them know about the other ones that were apparently broken into,” Nail said. “They pretty much just told us that they would make a report on it, but there wasn’t much they could do about it. Since we didn't have receipts for everything, they didn’t know, if they caught the person, if we could even get our items back.”
Nail said the break-in happened at a bad time for her family. Her husband, Cody, is off work while recovering from a recent knee surgery and she is currently unemployed. In addition, the couple is juggling two children, one of whom was born in May.
“We’ve got to try and save every little penny again to start buying Christmas gifts again,” Nail said.
Ultimately, Nail pulled her remaining items from the Sto-N-Go and ended her rental.
“I'm not asking for a pity party, but I am asking this to go public for others to know, so if they have a unit there, they can try to save their items,” Nail said. “The owner needs to step up and take action with this.”
This is not the first time storage units at the Sto-N-Go have been the target of breaking and entering. In late 2024, Brittney Welsh told the Butler Eagle she lost thousands of dollars worth of personal belongings to a break-in. She later discovered that more than 20 other lockers at the facility were broken into around the same time.
Despite her best efforts, including regularly checking secondhand sale websites such as Craigslist, Welsh still hasn’t been able to recover her stolen belongings. She pulled her remaining items out of the Sto-N-Go in December after moving into a new home with storage space to spare.
“The police never followed up after the initial report, so I assume they never found anything and quit looking into the case,” Welsh said.
It is unknown whether the break-ins are being committed by the same individual or individuals.
Joe Gibson, owner of the Sto-N-Go, previously said he intended to boost security at the Eau Claire location to prevent future break-ins by installing a camera system and a fence. Gibson did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
However, Nail said neither of those measures were in place by the time her break-in occurred.
“I was told by the manager after the fact that they had installed cameras, but we had never seen any until after the theft,” Nail said.
Welsh said, before she pulled her belongings out of the Sto-N-Go, she took security into her own hands.
“I placed cellular trail cameras to have a live feed of my specific storage unit,” Welsh said. “I had my cameras in place from Oct. 16 to Dec. 13. I monitored them daily, but nothing suspicious occurred between those dates.”
Welsh has a key piece of advice for those who still store their valuables at self-storage facilities.
“My advice to others storing their items at facilities that do not have surveillance is to seek approval from the owner/manager to set your own cameras,” Welsh said. “The cellular trail cams connect to Wi-Fi. You have access to live feed and photos/video of any movement that immediately sends a notification to your phone so that you are constantly aware of movement near your unit.
“If the thieves were to strike my unit again, I would’ve had them on video and would have had better leads/info/photos for the police.”
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