What kind of car was it?
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Any lawyers in the house?
- Thread starter naaman
- Start date
Well, I did as much research as I could, talked to the DMV, the police, lawers, even judges.
According to all of them, the case is legitimate, but, because I am not the registered owner (never bothered to transfer the title from my mother's name), I can't get any farther. And the police won't help me either. They tell me that there wasn't any "criminal intent" in the removal of my truck from the premisis even though NONE of the proper procedures were followed (including the little bit where they're supposed to notify law enforcement within one hour). In fact, the towing company even went so far as to FORGE the legal documents that are supposed to be filled out by local law enforcment. But hey, since they didn't "intend" to steal my property and then sell it for profit, I can't complain, right?
My favorite part was when I went into the police station and said my truck was stolen, that it had been towed off and sold. The officer there ran my plates and said "I don't see any activtiy on this vehicle." That was his justification for refusing to take a report from me.
Anyway, I'm so tired of police being so unhelpful and useless that I've decided to become one. I have long lived by the philosophy that if I'm going to complain about something, I had better be willing to do something to change it, or I have no right to complain.
According to all of them, the case is legitimate, but, because I am not the registered owner (never bothered to transfer the title from my mother's name), I can't get any farther. And the police won't help me either. They tell me that there wasn't any "criminal intent" in the removal of my truck from the premisis even though NONE of the proper procedures were followed (including the little bit where they're supposed to notify law enforcement within one hour). In fact, the towing company even went so far as to FORGE the legal documents that are supposed to be filled out by local law enforcment. But hey, since they didn't "intend" to steal my property and then sell it for profit, I can't complain, right?
My favorite part was when I went into the police station and said my truck was stolen, that it had been towed off and sold. The officer there ran my plates and said "I don't see any activtiy on this vehicle." That was his justification for refusing to take a report from me.
Anyway, I'm so tired of police being so unhelpful and useless that I've decided to become one. I have long lived by the philosophy that if I'm going to complain about something, I had better be willing to do something to change it, or I have no right to complain.
naaman, I read this thread as a result of your pointer in a more recent thread. FWIW, I spent some time in federal prison and met some people there who were involved in this EXACT scam. They were part of the whole Providence, RI debacle several years back and essentially bribed the city so they owned the towing rights. The guy who owned the company explained to me how he would intentionally use old addresses of people to notify them and how some of the Providence PD guys would help with the whole process. His goal was to go through 'proper' procedures, wait the 30 days, then sell the cars while trying to make sure that the procedures he took would not alert the actual owner of the vehicle. If the owner DID find out before 30 days was up, he would have some excuse about how the source he used for the address was out of date and not his responsibility (and of course at $100+/day storage charges, cash only, he either made a fortune that way or got to keep the car anyway when they couldn't pay up).
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Well, I guess it would pay to make sure your information re vehicle registration is always up to date and current then. Also, if your mothger was the RO, then did she get the notice of lien sale?
I hate tow truck companies...they really can be the scum of the earth. Not the same story but similar. On a night that my girlfriend and I went out we parked her car in a garage like we always do and when we went back the car was gone. So we thought it was stolen, called the cops and made a report, the cop was a real jacka$$ too, he was belittling my gf and telling her maybe she was drunk. She had one drink that night. Anyway 10 days later the cops say they found it, a tow truck company had it. They claimed they took it from some street we never parked on and that we now owed them $500+ dollars to get it out of the impound. It such crap that they can get away with this kind of illegal behaviour. Even worse that the law officials don't really help you either.
Even worse that the law officials don't really help you either.You might want to talk to a lawyer about this again in the context of this:
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/sscra/blchap4-6.htm
The car not being registered in your name might be an issue, or might not, as many military members keep their "home" vehicles in their parent's/spouses/relatives' names.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/sscra/blchap4-6.htm
The car not being registered in your name might be an issue, or might not, as many military members keep their "home" vehicles in their parent's/spouses/relatives' names.
No. No attempt was made whatsoever to contact anyone. The DMV had no record of the sale, the Sheriff's Department which had jurisdiction in the area had no record of the tow. As far as the government is concerned, my mother still owns the truck (or at least all that parts that still exist, as I'm pretty sure it would've been parted out).
When I called the DMV to ask if they had any record of a lien sale (this was back in 03 or whatever), the lady said "I see no transactions on this vehicle since 1999," which is when my grandmother gave it to us).
Good find, but this all happened before I enlisted, so it doesn't seem to apply to me.
D'oh! Sorry man.
At first glance, I thought you were being Overhauled, but then I saw the OP date.
Have you ever gone back to the police and tried again to file for theft?
Seems ridiculous that they wouldn't investigate, especially when there is preceedent (ie: the Rhode Island crooks robr referred to)- maybe you should try a different law enforcement agency like the Highway Patrol or something?
Philip
Have you ever gone back to the police and tried again to file for theft?
Seems ridiculous that they wouldn't investigate, especially when there is preceedent (ie: the Rhode Island crooks robr referred to)- maybe you should try a different law enforcement agency like the Highway Patrol or something?
Philip
Yeah, I linked to this thread in the other thread about cops. Someone followed the link, and then responded, so... that's why it got bumped up.
The RI case wasn't precedent, this was the whole Mayor Cianci mess that the people I met got caught up in. His towing practices as far as I understand it was not part of that case. This was a pretty big case and there's a book on it which IIRC is called The King of Providence or some such.
