David and Nina Goodlund say a crew of masked thieves did not just luck into their belongings at an Englewood CubeSmart. In their telling, the burglars knew exactly where to go, exactly what to take and had help from the inside. Now the couple is suing in Arapahoe County, asking for more than $1 million in damages after hundreds of items, including a large sneaker collection, disappeared from their storage unit.
What the Goodlunds say happened
According to BusinessDen, David Goodlund moved designer clothing and a sneaker collection he valued at roughly $200,000 into a unit at the CubeSmart at 1090 W. Hampden Ave. in November. The lawsuit states that masked thieves entered the facility using their own keypad code, headed straight to Goodlund's unit and spent the next three days emptying it, even taking time to break down the moving boxes as they went.
As reported by Denver7, Englewood police arrested 35-year-old Brandon Romero in January and recovered 179 pairs of the stolen sneakers. Romero now faces charges that include second-degree burglary, felony theft and drug offenses. Police said more than 500 stolen items were involved overall and that investigators obtained a warrant to review surveillance video from the Hampden Avenue facility.
Why they are calling it an inside job
Per BusinessDen, the Goodlunds' complaint focuses heavily on CubeSmart's on-site manager, Kathleen Hughes. The suit claims Hughes told Goodlund there had been no recent break-ins at the property, even though she allegedly knew about prior burglaries. It also says she was supposed to perform daily lock checks that did not occur, and that she initially refused police requests for security video. The plaintiffs argue that these alleged lapses gave the thieves room to operate.
Denver7 has reported that Englewood police recorded 19 theft calls at the Hampden Avenue CubeSmart over the past three years and described the business as "typically uncooperative" with investigators. The Goodlunds say they did manage to recover some belongings after spotting them listed for sale online, but the lawsuit notes that at least two suspected accomplices are still at large.
Legal stakes and what comes next
The Goodlunds are suing CubeSmart and Hughes for fraud and negligence and have asked Judge Ben Figa to order the release of security footage, access logs, and phone records. Colorado's self-service storage laws address owner liens and facility procedures, and courts in the state have signaled they will closely examine broad liability waivers. In other words, a posted sign or a clause in a rental contract may not automatically protect a company from negligence claims. Those rules are laid out in the Colorado Revised Statutes and discussed in a legal overview on exculpatory clauses in Colorado on JDSupra.
The case now heads into civil discovery, where CubeSmart's records and video could become central. The judge will be looking at whether those materials point to staff involvement or to security gaps that may have allowed the burglars to move in and out so freely. For anyone renting storage, the dispute is a pointed reminder to document valuable items, read rental contracts carefully, and move quickly to request video and incident logs if a break-in occurs.
