Neighbors concerned after man steals from storage units

Columbia police are asking people to come forward after several storage units were broken into over the last several months.

The people police are looking for are the victims.

Shawn Reams was arrested last week, but his wife still lives in their home on Wagon Trail Heights, just north of Columbia.

“We knew something was going on. Just the fact that he would leave at midnight and come back with a trailer full of stuff,” said one neighbor who knows the Reams.

Police said Reams’ stole from several different storage units and stole things like lawnmowers and bikes.

ABC 17 News was at the Ream’s home on Tuesday and saw the red truck, which police said was caught on video surveillance at storage units with what appeared to be Ream’s inside.

Neighbors said when police served a search warrant they found quite a few stolen items that had to be taken away in a U-Haul.

“They filled it (U-Haul) twice, and the back of a pickup truck,” said one neighbor.

The neighbor wanted to speak to ABC 17 News, but did not want to give us her name.

“I don’t feel safe. I have no idea what they are doing down there. They are always in and out, you know obviously they have been stealing stuff, I know they are on drugs,” said the neighbor.

Court documents ABC 17 has shows Reams has been charged for having meth, stealing, as well as domestic abuse.

In the court documents Ream’s wife, Heather, allegedly helped Reams fix his car when it broke down after he stole items.

That has neighbor’s confused as to why she isn’t trouble.

“They found drugs when they did the search warrant so I don’t know why she’s not being arrested and that’s concerning to me,” said a neighbor.

Even with Shawn Reams behind bars, neighbor’s said that isn’t enough for them to feel their children are safe on their street.

“They aren’t allowed to leave the yard. My children have been threatened and I just can’t. I can’t,” said the neighbor.

Reams was arrested on seven counts of second-degree burglary on May 7.

The first burglary happened on April 10 at Northwest Self Storage on I-70 Drive.

Shawn Reams was caught on camera breaking into the units.

His car later broke down on Ash and 7th Street the same night, and Reams’ wife came to help him in a silver Isuzu Rodeo, which matched the description in a prior burglary at storage units.

Detectives captured the silver Rodeo on surveillance at two more burglaries at Northwest Self Storage on April 24 and 25.

According to police, Reams tried to sell someone snap-on tools with the identifiers scratched off. The witness told police Reams was driving the silver Rodeo in that incident.

Investigators drove by Reams’ home on Wagon Trail Road on May 6 and saw both cars in the driveway, and noticed several bicycles, tools, lawn mowers, and other items in the yard around the home.

Later the same day, a victim told detectives they had lawn mowers and and bicycles stolen from their storage unit at 4300 Bold Venture Drive. The detective saw one of the bikes described by the victim laying at Reams’ home. The detective and the victim then drove by Reams’ home where the victim identified three bicycles that had been reported stolen.

Deputies obtained a search warrant and arrested Reams on May 7.

On May 12, a detective got a call from a Reams family member saying he had been bringing and storing items in one of his barns. Detectives found several items that had been reported stolen from multiple storage units inside the barn.