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There is a story about fraudulent towing companies that took their vehicles from California wildfire victims and were demanding hefty fees for their return. The surprised me as it sounds like multiple serious crimes that would not work without providing real identity details. This would make the perpetrator liable to arrest and incarceration. How does this work?

Kathryn Barger, chair of the Los Angeles county board of supervisors, said that during the first four days of the blaze, some tow truck operators were falsely claiming to be working for Altadena officials. They towed vehicles without telling owners where the cars were being stored.

Victims David Gueringer and Ursula Knudson in Los Angeles told ABC7 that a towing company falsely claimed it had been contracted by the city to remove vehicles as part of debris-clearing efforts. The company later placed a lien on their car.

Taking a car without the owner permission sounds like car theft, apparently called grand theft auto in the US. I am not sure how one goes about getting a lien on a car, but I would assume it would require making a statement to a court about your right to the lien and identifying oneself so you can receive the benefit. Making knowingly false statements to a court is usually perjury. These are serious crimes that people go to prison for, so it seems this should not be a viable criminal enterprise.

What crimes would be committed in this story? Would it be possible for the perpetrator to put a lien on a car without making themselves identifiable?

Barmar
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User65535
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1 Answers1

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In an ordinary, legal, authorized tow, the towing company has a lien by operation of law for its towing and storage charges which is "perfected" by possession of the vehicle. This is a fancy way of saying that the towing company is allowed to hold onto a legally towed car until its fees are paid.

The parts that are illegal are towing cars without authorization to do so from someone entitled to authorize a tow, and not informing the people whose cars were towed where the cars were taken.

The offense of theft of a car requires an intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property, so merely towing the car with an intent of returning it if the towing and storage lien is paid, is probably not car theft. Instead, it is probably a lesser offense (possibly the same offense used to prosecute joy riding).

An individual tow truck driver who was told by his or her boss that the tow was authorized who actually believed that the boss was telling the truth, would also not be guilty of a crime.

But whoever made the decision to tow without authorization is probably guilty of one or more crimes, or at least, or one or more tow truck industry regulatory violations.

The story is less than clear about who told whom that the towing was authorized by the city. But it seems like this is what the towing company told people whose cars were towed, not a court. In all likelihood, this would not be perjury, since a statement like that would not typically be made under oath. But, it might be fraud if the statement was used to secure payment of a lien that did not arise because the tow was not made legally.

ohwilleke
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