Today’s filing includes victims’ statements to the police, with descriptions of “feeling defrauded and intimidated.” Witnesses also confirmed with the Bank of the West branch manager that the bank did not authorize the towing service to enter its lot and haul away people’s cars.
The debarment filing includes details that could implicate Auto Towing for selectively profiling the victims of their illegal activity. Besides mentioning that many of them did not speak English as their primary language, it focuses on the fact that individuals with disabilities were also subjected to the illegal towing, despite the clearly visible placards on their dashboards.
Additionally, Auto Towing allegedly towed vehicles to a different location than listed on its permit, and told vehicle owners that they could not retrieve their cars over the weekend. “Auto Towing intentionally misled and scammed vulnerable people out of hundreds of dollars. Our City has no interest in contracting with exploitative businesses engaged in illegal conduct.”The involvement of Specialty Towing in the debarment filing is a curious one. The filing mentions an incident on May 18, in which witnesses saw two separate tow trucks attempt to tow two different cars — one of the trucks belonged to Specialty Towing, with the other from Auto Towing.