Public Storage Sold Belongings of Active Duty Solider In Iraq
 

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Jan. 10) - After serving a year in Iraq , Army Reserve Spc. Patrick Rogalin came home and found that everything he had put in a storage locker - essentially everything he owned - had been sold.


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I thought that any sort of rented/financed property (apartment, locker, car, house, etc) couldn't be forfeited while a soldier was on active duty. I remember a past coworker who's daughter had married some loser and then got shipped off to Iraq. The landlord couldn't kick him out of the apartment because it was in her name, even though he wasn't paying rent, and they couldn't repo her car because she was active duty.

whether or not there is offical rule or regulation saying "don't sell the stuff of active soliders" it is a prettty scummy thing to do.

That's horrible, why not just write a letter telling him to go f- himself, because that's basically what they did they f-d that dude over.

We live in a country full of asshats.

Sorry, as the stepdaughter of a retired soldier, I can tell you that a soldier is plenty able to care of his/her obligations at home. They are supposed to have their affairs in order for deployment.

He didn't pay. They are a business.

Many times, if they are married, the wives go home to mommy and daddy while the soldier is deployed. A lot of the time, she spends the hazard pay and OOPS forgets to pay the mortgage. They still take the house away and revoke the va loan priviliges.

Just because someone is deployed doesn't absolve them from their financial responsibilities.

As a wife of an active duty soldier, I can tell you that the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act precludes any business from seizing property or commencing legal preceedings while a servicemember has been deployed (this goes for private citizens as well-- inidividuals cannot bring about legal proceedings while a servicemember is deployed; they have to wait until their return). The SCRA also limits all previous loans (car, credit card, mortgage, etc.) to no more than 6% interest during the deployment.
While I agree with Tippie that soldiers should have their affairs in order, sometimes it just comes down to who the goofball soldier has entrusted with his financial obligations. Most wives are ok when it comes to dealing with the family finances, while others are just completely clueless.

He was only gone a year--that seems like a short amount of time for a company to do something like this. Usually you need to be past due several months, and then don't they need some kind of legal order allowing them to sell the property? All that takes time--not to mention he resumed making payments. I assume he had other bills as well--it does not mention that any of those companies took action against him.

scbelle's info above is correct. Soliders, sailors, and Marines have too much to worry about during war to have to be vigilant over their affairs at home. Hopefully this will be a lesson to others to choose their POAs carefully.

Yes. The real bad guy here is the asshole who emptied his checking account, not Public Storage. Also, the article make no mention of whether anyone at Public Storage even knew dude was serving in the military.