Cop run auto-theft ring broken up

The first time I had a car towed for parking in a towing spot that appeared overnight and had to go through the "cash only" seedy extortion process to get it back I knew something was up:

In a predawn sweep that stunned the Salinas Valley town of King City, the acting police chief, a former chief, other police employees and a towing company owner were arrested Tuesday, some on charges connected to a scheme to steal impounded cars belonging mostly to Latino immigrants, authorities said.

www.latimes.com...

They tow your car, you can't pay, the longer it takes you to pay the more fees they charge. If you can't pay $50 today how the hell are you supposed to pay $200 tomorrow?

So to make up for a bill of a couple hundred dollars they take ownership of your car and sell it for thousands.

Pretty good racket, right? And that's how they do it legally and lawfully.

It just so happens these cops in this story upset enough people to get caught.

If you have towing in your town or city this very thing is going on day after day and it's perfectly legal.

I guess I cant say that I'm surprised....

if you have a vehicle, you MUST keep it in lawfully working order, and obey the laws pertaining to driving it. if you cannot do this, find some other means of transportation...it's your responsibility, i learned this the hard way decades ago.

reply to post by InverseLookingGlass


Thanks for that. Apparently the clowns that be have trouble discerning what is on and what is off topic.


Anyway, on the other side of the country:

A Lawrence police officer, a 15-year veteran, was convicted in federal court Tuesday of bribery and obstruction of justice for soliciting a bribe from a towing company in exchange for sending business the company’s way. - See more at: www.boston.com... Ii4.dpuf

And on the third coast:

To add salt to the wound, this SGT authorized the tow truck operator to charge an illegal waiting time fee in addition the state law maximum fee. I told the motorist not to give up, as the Grapevine Police Department has a moral obligation to uphold the law. link

When the cops, politicians and tow companies all get together no good comes from it. If they weren't agents of government this would all be racketeering.

We used to hang horse thieves, now we pay the ransom to get our "horses" returned.
Where did we go wrong?

reply to post by jimmyx


i guess you are failing to see what the article is stating, that they are doing ILLEGAL things take the cares and more illegal stunts to preventing the car tobe returned.
Either youre denying ignorance or related to one of the people involved...

reply to post by jimmyx


Thats a very limited black and white perspective.

reply to post by jimmyx

I fail to see what that statement has to do about these people abusing their jobs and breaking the law?

Or more importantly if you are trusted to do a job and decide to break the law and break that trust then you should accept the consequences.

jimmyx
if you have a vehicle, you MUST keep it in lawfully working order, and obey the laws pertaining to driving it. if you cannot do this, find some other means of transportation...it's your responsibility, i learned this the hard way decades ago.

edit on 26-2-2014 by jimmyx because: (no reason given)

So, if you violate a parking law you deserve to have your vehicle stolen by corrupt police in cahoots with organized car thieves and chop shops?

I am glad you learned that long ago.