SDPD is investigating the towing company for alleged exploitation

San Diego police are investigating a local towing company after several people, mostly migrants and non-English speakers, complained that their vehicles were towed despite being legally parked, officials said Thursday.

The announcement of the investigation into Kensington-based S&S Towing comes more than a week after a tow truck driver fatally shot himself while police were executing a search warrant on the company’s property, police said.

The Police Department said investigators are working with the City Attorney’s Office to investigate the case and find more potential victims.

S&S Towing could not be reached for comment Thursday. The company’s Yelp page lists the business as “closed,” and the number listed for the company’s after-hours shipping service did not return multiple calls.

According to court documents, S&S Towing and its parent company 51 Strategies LLC have been the subject of several small claims court lawsuits in recent years.

In one case, a Santee man said he was wrongfully towed from a small strip mall off El Cajon Boulevard in City Heights in 2022, according to his lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court.

He stated in the application that his vehicle was towed less than 10 minutes after he parked, that S&S Towing was not the designated towing company listed on the signs in the parking lot, and that the company did not provide a copy of the towing permit from the property owner.

A judge ruled after a trial in October 2023 that 51 Strategies owed the plaintiff $1,652 in damages — four times the cost of recovering the car from the tow yard. A representative of the towing company was not present at the trial.

Officials at 51 Strategies also could not be reached for comment Thursday.

S&S Towing became the focus of a criminal investigation last spring after the city attorney’s affirmative action civil enforcement unit, or ACE, received complaints about the company’s unfair business practices.

“The ACE Unit interviewed victims and witnesses, investigated S&S’s business operations and inspected its tow yard,” Detective Sgt. John Ampol said in a press release Thursday. “After confirming that predatory practices occurred, the ACE Unit referred the matter to the SDPD for potential prosecution.”

In May, the City Attorney’s Office asked victims with claims to meet with investigators, attorneys and traffic officers and learned that S&S Towing was illegally impounding vehicles and violating other towed vehicle laws, Ampol said.

On Aug. 5, police were executing a search warrant at the company’s property on El Cajon Boulevard, west of State Route 15, for alleged illegal towing, when a tow truck driver pulled into the parking lot and pulled a gun on himself, said the police. . Officers tried to help the driver after he shot himself, but he died before he could be taken to the hospital, Ampol said.

Officials did not provide more details on the specific allegations against the company Thursday, but listed several ways someone could be an alleged victim in the case:

• The vehicle was towed from a legally parked area by S&S Towing;

• The tow truck driver refused to release the vehicle at the scene – meaning it had not yet been removed from private property and was not in transit;

• The driver of the tow truck requested payment of more than half of the regular towing rate after the tow truck was already attached to the tow truck or other towing device;

• The tow truck driver or company refused to accept a credit card as a form of payment and only accepted cash;

• The owner of the vehicle was not provided with a photocopy of the written authorization; or

• The owner did not receive a notice with information regarding the reporting of improper towing.

The investigation remains ongoing, Ampol said. Investigators asked anyone who may have had a vehicle illegally towed by S&S Towing to contact the police traffic unit at [email protected].

Writer Kristina Davis contributed to this report.

Originally published: August 15, 2024 at 6:26 p.m