Seventy One Guns Stolen During Move
BY Herschel Smith
6 hours, 54 minutes ago
CHARLOTTE — Police said 71 guns were stolen while being moved from Bessemer City to Alaska and the safes they were locked in were later found busted open along a road in north Charlotte. One of the stolen guns has already been recovered from a convicted felon, but the gun owner says he’s praying the rest don’t end up in the wrong hands.
The gun owner hired movers to get his things from Bessemer City to Fairbanks, Alaska.
He said he doesn’t know how it happened.
Police found the empty safes on Vance Davis Drive earlier this month.
The safes had dozens of firearms in them.
“Oh, I was devastated,” said the victim who didn’t want to be identified.
The victim is a gun collector. The safes were supposed to be stored in public storage off West Arrowood Road until they could be sent to Alaska.
However, they were found dumped nearly 20 miles away along an industrial road.
“I tried to do everything right by the law,” he said. “I kept them all locked up all the time and then, this happens, so now, it’s pretty bad actually.”
The police report lists all 71 guns with an estimated worth of nearly $40,000.
The moving company told police they hired two movers from Craigslist.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers pulled a car over in south Charlotte weeks after finding the emptied safes on the side of the road.
Sylvester Miller, a convicted felon, was in the car and officers said he had a gun.
The firearm was traced back to one of the stolen guns from those safes.
He’s now facing charges, but it’s not clear if he’s being investigated as a suspect in the theft.
That sounds awful. Seventy one guns. So much for Craigslist.
I’m not sure how I would do it if I had to move that many guns that far away. I’d like to hear suggestions in the comments.
On August 3, 2025 at 9:33 pm, Clint said:
I am very particular about my guns. When I moved, I unloaded my safe completely and transported all the items under my care only. Granted I only moved across town. In this situation, I would have rented a truck or van and wrapped all my firearms in protective covers (blankets, sheets or whatever). I would loaded these into the vehicle and transport them myself with two person control at all times. Yet it would be inconvenient, but you’d have your guns reliably transported to their new home, and likely have your safes still intact. Safes are not cheap either.
On August 3, 2025 at 9:37 pm, Herschel Smith said:
Yeah I thought about that. But let’s say you’re moving across the country. You have to sleep somewhere. How do you protect your firearms then? A parked moving truck is a target.
On August 3, 2025 at 11:30 pm, Dan said:
It’s a virtual certainty this was an inside job involving someone working for the moving company. These companies will hire literally ANYONE. And a safe is an enormous neon sign saying something of value is inside.
On August 4, 2025 at 2:08 am, Nosmo said:
The first step in OPSEC is, well, OPSEC. If one hires people to move a safe, unless it’s a bonded and insured safe and lock company that has demonstrated the ability to maintan confidentiality, OPSEC goes to zero.
Same goes for whatever contractors you let into your house. Which is why so many people recommend hiding safes inside closets, and crating them when they’re moved, and strenously concealing the existence of any valuables. .
Insurance companies are notoriously reluctant to extend coverage on guns in homeowners’ policies, I wonder if there’s any insurance company that will write temporary coverage to cover things like moving. But that, just like suing the moving company in this case, only gets money and doesn’t replace irreplaceable collector-grade firearms.