‘I’m disappointed’: Man starting over after belongings tossed from his Wichita apartment
DeAndre Morris is starting over from scratch after a mishap where he said his entire life was accidentally thrown into a dumpster.
The 25-year-old single father came home Tuesday morning to his north Wichita apartment complex, Stoneybrook, to find his unit nearly cleared. The front door was propped open and he thought he had been robbed.
“TVs, shoes, clothes missing,” Morris said in a phone call. “I called the police and made a report. After that I left because I was mad.”
Morris immediately went to the downtown offices of Point Guard Management, which manages Stoneybrook among several other properties in Wichita, to share what happened. Their offices were closed, he said.
He returned to his apartment roughly two hours later to find it completely emptied. He talked to a neighbor to see if they had seen anything odd.
“She told me that the guys that took everything out of my apartment look like the same guys that do maintenance in their apartments,” Morris said.
Police got in contact with Point Guard, which paid for Morris to stay in a hotel that night. The next morning, Morris learned that Point Guard had hired a third-party vendor to clear a deceased tenant’s unit. The vendor had cleared the wrong unit.
In a statement sent to The Eagle, Point Guard acknowledged the error and offered to replace Morris’ belongings that were accidentally thrown away. He declined the offer, saying some of those items had sentimental value.
“I wanted to be able to replace the items that were replaceable myself,” Morris said. “I want [to be] compensated enough to be able to go through this process myself. ... They’ve messed up enough.”
Morris estimates he had about $10,000 worth of property in the apartment.
Point Guard said in its statement that it “did not take this issue lightly. Out of good faith and customer service, we provided the tenant with a hotel stay for the duration he requested and offered to replace the belongings that were mistakenly discarded. In addition, we extended extra compensation to help resolve the matter. We also offered to personally accompany the tenant while shopping for replacement items, utilizing company vehicles and personnel. The tenant turned this offer down. ”
Point Guard added: “Even though the mistake came from a different party, we felt it was important to provide a generous goodwill offering to help mediate the situation and support our resident.”
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Point Guard said the company offered Morris a “goodwill payment” of $7,000 that he accepted and was presented in person, but then refused the check. Morris said he was not presented a check, and the goodwill payment offer was $5,000.
Now, Morris is looking at his options and contemplating a lawsuit.
“I had a blanket [in there] that was made for my daughter that was given to her the day she was born,” Morris said. “Money cannot buy that.”
Morris had been living at Stoneybrook for over a year, and was getting ready to move in April.
“I’m disappointed,” Morris said. “This is the first bad interaction I’ve had with this company, and for them to treat me like that, is very insane.”
He has created a GoFundMe to help him replace belongings and “cover the unexpected costs of having to rebuild my life.” The fundraiser can be accessed by clicking this link: http://bit.ly/3DjNEj5.
Morris is currently living with a friend.
Here is the full statement provided by Point Guard Management:
Point Guard Management is aware of the incident that occurred at Stoneybrook Apartments on March 4, 2025. We take the safety and well-being of our residents very seriously and are fully cooperating with local authorities as they conduct their investigation.
To provide context to this incident, Point Guard Management hired a 3rd party vendor to conduct a make-ready cleaning and trash haul-off for an apartment. Unfortunately, the vendor mistakenly accessed the wrong apartment and moved the items to a temporary construction bin outside of the apartment.
Point Guard Management did not take this issue lightly. Out of good faith and customer service, we provided the tenant with a hotel stay for the duration he requested and offered to replace the belongings that were mistakenly discarded. In addition, we extended extra compensation to help resolve the matter. We also offered to personally accompany the tenant while shopping for replacement items, utilizing company vehicles and personnel. The tenant turned this offer down.
We then offered a goodwill payment of $7,000.00 that the tenant initially verbally accepted and the check was printed and signed and presented to the tenant in person, but the resident refused this, too.
Even though the mistake came from a different party, we felt it was important to provide a generous goodwill offering to help mediate the situation and support our resident.
We require our residents to obtain renter’s insurance, which the tenant has the right to utilize since he is refusing the offers that we have put forth.
Our priority remains providing a safe and secure environment for all our residents. We will continue to monitor the situation and take any necessary actions to support our community.