Richmond woman's apartment admit they emptied her unit by mistake
Woman's apartment emptied out by mistake
A Richmond woman returned from a trip to find her apartment empty. Her apartment management admitted they cleaned it out by mistake. FOX 26's Heather Sullivan spoke with the woman to hear more.
RICHMOND, Texas - A Richmond woman says she returned home from a trip to find her apartment empty. She says the apartment management admitted they cleaned it out by mistake, and now she's suing.
Terica Washington showed us where she says her furniture used to be in her apartment at Allora Cinco Ranch in Richmond.
Woman's apartment cleared out
What we know:
Washington says she returned home in April after working out of town for three weeks as a travel nurse and discovered her apartment was empty.
The apartment management first told her to file a police report. She did. The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Deputy wrote, "The floor had a wax sheen as if somebody had recently done it," and that the office manager provided proof that Washington was not under eviction.
"I had a futon. This was a rug in the middle. My TV was right here," said Washington.
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"My kitchen stuff, pots, pans, toaster, my coffee pot. Things that were passed down from my grandparents," Washington listed.
What they're saying:
"I almost had a panic attack. I walked in and nothing. Go into every room, and wait, something isn’t adding up. Where’s my laptop? That's the first thing I thought," she said.
"When the police walked in, the police told me this looked like a maintenance wipe out. That’s the exact words. This looks like a 'maintenance wipe out,'" Washington said.
She says someone with Allora Cinco Ranch called her.
"I was just calling to tell you that we made a big mistake that we went inside your apartment. I said ‘I knew it!’" Washington told us.
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What we know:
Washington says they gave her an air mattress, a blanket, and $150, but says they haven't offered any additional money to replace her things.
"As an attorney, I’m in shock. This woman has a lease and is current on her rent," said Washington's attorney Jason Friedman.
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Friedman shared a letter with us from Allora Cinco Ranch's attorney stating, "it appears that the Premises was mistakenly scheduled for a 'turn over' by the Community's maintenance team," but disputes that "she had a great deal of her personal property in the premises," and that it appeared "vacated."
Washington has filed a lawsuit, which states that management told her it "had pictures and a list of everything" in the unit, but when Washington asked for the pictures, she wasn't given them.
"I would like to see them take responsibility and put her back in a position to live her life," said Friedman.
Washington says she already had to start over twenty years ago after Hurricane Katrina.
"I lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. For me to experience that, I was stuck outside, I had to get rescued," she recalled.
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But this time, she says she's missing her belongings and missing answers.
"I need to be compensated for my loss. Acknowledge it and admit that they did wrong to me, and make it right," said Washington.
We asked the apartment management for comment. A spokesperson for Crow Holdings sent us a statement reading, "Because this matter is currently in litigation — and on advice from counsel — we have no comment."
The Source: Information in this article is from our interviews with Terica Washinton and her attorney Jason Friedman, her lawsuit, the Fort Bend Sheriff's Office, and Crow Holdings.