North Carolina family of 10 finds stolen U-haul truck ransacked in Atlanta

ATLANTA - A North Carolina couple says they have no choice but to start over after a U-Haul truck they reported stolen earlier this week was found ransacked more than 20 miles from where it was taken in Gwinnett County. Now police in Gwinnett are looking for the perpetrators.

"I feel violated … I feel very violated," Shanna Sanon told FOX 5.

The wife and mom of eight says her family’s recent move to Atlanta came with anything but a warm welcome.

The Sanon family says their U-Haul truck was stolen and ransacked not even a week into their move to Atlanta.

"I just was relocating from Raleigh, North Carolina," Sanon explained. "[I] got an opportunity at a new job, and so we moved all of our things into a 26-foot U-Haul truck."

Within days of their arrival, that truck containing everything they owned was stolen from the parking lot of their hotel on Pleasant Hill Road.

"Friday morning, my husband came to get some stuff out of the truck, and it was gone. It was just gone," Sanon said. "Birth certificates, social security numbers, everything you know you would keep within your home was in there … just gone."

She told FOX 5 security video from the hotel parking lot captured thieves driving off in the truck just after 1 a.m. Friday. On Sunday, Atlanta Police found it abandoned on Fayetteville Road.

"We literally still have the keys, so we have no idea … we don’t know who drove off with this truck," she said. "They wrecked the truck."

Sanon said it wasn’t until the following Saturday that they were able to see the damage to the truck and that the inside had been ransacked.

"It’s a horrible feeling," she said.

Despite the setback, Sanon told FOX 5 she’s grateful for the compassion others in the community have shown through donations.