SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) – On August 21 around 6:30pm, Springfield Police was sent to Freedom Storage Units, located at 1570 Wabash Avenue, in reference to a burglary.
Upon arriving, the officer made contact with the owner, who said that a storage unit had the lock broken off and someone made an entry on the south side of the building. Someone had unscrewed multiple screws and entered another unit.
After opening the first reported unit, the officer could see that the walls had been cut at the top and it appeared that someone had gone through multiple units. Around 20+ units had been damaged.
Some of the owners were able to be contacted. Some said that small items might have been taken and the units had definitely been gone through. Some said nothing was missing.
The damage to the business could cost around $10,000 or more to repair.
The officer viewed the footage on the storage units and located the suspect on the video. A white male was seen wearing a camouflage outfit, a black backpack with a Jeep logo, and a red mask. He is seen going through multiple storage units on the property. Eventually, he removes his mask and the officer could see his face.
The officer then spots a red Chevy HHR at a Steak ‘n Shake parking lot, which could be seen on one of the storage unit’s cameras. The man loads his bags into the vehicle and gets in and drives off.
The vehicle is tracked via FLOCK and located at the Midtown Inn on the 3100 Block of Widetrack Drive. There were numerous calls for where the driver or occupant was one Joshua K. Forsyth, 38. After checking booking photos and driver’s license photos, the officer determined that the suspect was Forsyth.
Officers stopped the vehicle and place Forsyth, who was in the front passenger seat, into custody. He was read his Miranda Rights and he stated that he understood. He said that he used pliers to enter the side of the building and went inside. He said that he stayed the night because of an argument that he had with his girlfriend.
Forsyth already had a warrant out in Sangamon County for theft.
