BROOMFIELD, Colo — Andre Gladden served for 10 years in the Navy and recently left to take a new job in Colorado. He was excited to make the move with his wife, but seven months later, they're still waiting on their belongings to arrive.
"Me and my wife spent thousands of dollars replacing everything. We had to use the emergency fund just to rebuild our lives," said Gladden.
It's been such a long wait that Gladden started buying new household items. He said he didn't want his wife sitting in an empty house and eating off paper plates. The last time the couple saw their belongings was on April 29, when the boxes were loaded into a moving truck.
"I’ve been in the military, I’ve moved a couple of times," explained Gladden, saying he found it odd that the movers showed up in a rented U-Haul truck.
Gladden tried to shake off that concern because he needed to get to Colorado soon so he could start his new job. He said he hired a company called United Moving Solutions, LLC, after searching for movers on Google.
The company was supposed to move the couple from their military base in Louisiana to Colorado. Gladden said he confirmed everything with a man named Demetrias Karagiannis.
“From the jump with dealing with this company, it was just chaotic," said Gladden.
He said the moving date was rescheduled several times, then the company finally showed up. Gladden arrived in Colorado and waited for the truck to show up. He said he has been told multiple times that the truck was on the way.
HOW TO HELP: To help Andre through Denver7 Gives, click here and choose “Help Veteran Hit with Moving Headache” from the drop down menu.
"They’re like, 'Oh it’s going to be here Sunday. Oh it’s going to be there Tuesday.' So me and my wife would take off work, wait in our apartment and we wouldn’t get a call back, [the] truck will never show up. And after that moment of not showing up, it will be a week of not being able to get in touch with him. And that went on for months," said Gladden.
Contact Denver7 tried reaching out to Karagiannis but our calls went to voicemail. Gladden said he last spoke with him a few weeks ago and hasn't been able to reach him since.
Gladden said he recently learned his items are likely in a U-Haul storage facility near the military base where he was living. He doesn't believe his belongings ever left the state.
"My stuff was stolen. I’m trying to retrieve my stolen property," said Gladden.
He filed a police report and has contacted U-Haul in an attempt to get the items, but so far he hasn't had any luck.
A spokesperson for U-Haul said although they empathize with the situation, the storage operator cannot grant access to a third party if their name is not on the storage contract.
Gladden is still hopeful the items can be released, especially precious keepsakes that can't be replaced.
"Uniforms, picture, medals, heirlooms," said Gladden. "It’s the uniform, it’s like when you lose, that has your name on it, it has all your achievements on it. I don’t have that anymore."
