Dan Dotson, the familiar face of the A&E reality show “Storage Wars,” was standing at a charity event in Indio on Nov. 1 when a quiet woman approached him.
She had a story to tell the auctioneer.
Her friend bought a storage unit from Dotson the month before in Southern California – and found inside that shed was $7.5 million in cash. It came as a surprise to the buyer and the auctioneer.
“It was an amazing story,’ Dotson told The Desert Sun as he recalled the exchange. “She said, ‘I just gotta tell you this story, my husband works for a guy that bought a unit from you and there was a safe in there.”
Dotson tried to hear the woman over the din of the event – the Cars, Stars and Rock ‘N Roll charity auction in Indio, the city known for hosting the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
But he did catch the peak of the story: “She says, ‘there was a safe in the unit. The first guy couldn’t open it, so they called a second guy and there was $7.5 million,’ and I say ‘$7.5 million?’ and she says, ‘Cash.”
Dotson declined to share the woman’s name, the city the unit was sold in or the name of the new owner of the unit, citing privacy and safety concerns. That auction was not recorded for the popular A&E series.