A Sandy man has been sentenced to nearly 2 years in prison for stealing more than $65,000 worth of property from self-storage units, the Clackamas County District Attorney’s officials said.
Joseph Wayne Kautz, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree aggravated theft, officials said.
Kautz used bolt cutters to remove the locks from multiple units at Northwest Self Storage in Sandy. He replaced them with his own locks, allowing him to steal from the units at will over a roughly two-month period in the spring of 2025, the district attorney’s office said.
Kautz stole an antique pocket watch collection, tools, jewelry, a wedding dress, snowboards and a glass ball containing the ashes of one storage unit renter’s deceased son, among other items, officials said.
He sold some of the stolen goods at Gresham and Portland pawn shops, officials said.
Kautz is currently in prison on a 23-month sentence for violating his parole in a Marion County case where he pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree assault, according to court records.
The new sentence will run consecutively to the one he’s currently serving.
Kautz also pleaded guilty to first-degree theft in 2018 for stealing a diamond ring from a Tillamook Fred Meyer that was worth at least $1,000.
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