After a long investigation, federal agents descended on a Northern California towing company last week to raid a towing company accused of illegal operations in San Fransisco.
San Francisco’s ABC 7 reports that the FBI raided Specialty Towing on August 8. Witnesses in the area told the news station agents and local enforcement were outside the company’s office staging for over two hours before the raid.
The raid is the result of a months-long investigation. According to ABC 7, Speciality Towing has been a menace in the city for a while. Earlier this year, the office of San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced that it was investigating the company:
The city suspended Auto Towing and several of its affiliates, including Specialty Towing, from doing business with the city. Chiu said then:
“We provided enough evidence such that Auto Towing could be permanently barred from doing business with the city for the next five years,” said Chiu.
The company has a history of engaging in illegal towing as well. In April, the company was caught on camera attempting to tow a car that was sitting in traffic. Mind you, this was after the city suspended the company’s license, supposedly preventing them from doing business in the city. They obviously didn’t care.
Now it seems the company may be done for good. The Department Of Justice confirmed to ABC that the company’s owners are facing a number of charges, including money laundering:
After the raid, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed to ABC7 News that Jose Badillo and Jessica Najarro who owned or operated Jose’s Towing and Auto Towing appeared in federal court Thursday to face mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges related to an alleged scheme to defraud an auto insurance company. Adding the couple “conspired to defraud an insurance company by submitting a fraudulent insurance claim on a wrecked car.”
The indictment says Badillo bought a car, said it was damaged and undriveable.
According to the DOJ, Najarro “obtained an insurance policy on, and later took title to, the car before falsely reporting to the insurance company in July 2019 that she had been in a single-car accident in San Francisco.”
The insurance company approved the claim and sent a check for $34,037.48
If convicted, both Badillo and Najarro face 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
