The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "towed cars" ...
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"Drivers Beware"
Thomas Caywood revealed that a local towing company, Falcon Recovery, was using an "undercover spotter" to keep watch on a strip mall parking lot. Just moments after motorists parked and left their cars, the spotter would call in a tow truck. Caywood also revealed that the company was "tacking on an illegal charge."
Tags: Falcon Recovery; tow trucks; strip mall; Worcester; RMV; Registry of Motor Vehicles; Madison Place; Francis R. Whitenett Jr.
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Constables Under Fire
“The series of stories examines the questionable employment practices and operations of several county constable officers”. Some of these practices include “aggressive and unregulated towing effort and questionable ties with a towing company, political campaign violations and the unprecedented expansion of constables’ police duties with minimal oversight”. These constables are now under civil and criminal investigations and have been accused of a number of things.
Tags: city government; judge; lawmen; deputies; law enforcement; car tags; county government; deputies
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Police Towing Scandal
Police officers were found to be using cars seized by the police department, the scandal led to the retirement of the Police Chief.
Tags: Department of Motor Vehicles; S & H Towing; St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department;
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St. Louis Towing Scandal
This is a series of pieces Mahr, Hunn and Kohler wrote looking into the relationship between the St. Louis Police Department and a private tow lot, St. Louis Metropolitan Towing. The lot illegally kept and sold several cars that police impounded during investigations. The lot also lent and sold several cars to the St. Louis police chief's daughter. The series includes short personal stories about people whose cars were taken by the lot.
Tags: towing; police corruption; private contracts; public-private partnership; Joe Mokwa; sweetheart deals
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Tow Truck Pirates
The investigation looked into the rampant practice of illegally towing cars from private parking lots in LA and the laws that have allowed them to continue.
Tags: towing; L.A.; Los Angeles; Federal Aviation Administration Act; Interstate Commerce Commission; Chris Cox; Jim Moran; Dianne Feinstein
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Parking tickets include fee for phantom towing
A computer analysis of more than 38,000 parking tickets revealed that a police officer was assessing towing charges on hundreds of tickets he wrote for illegally parked cars – even though he never summoned a tow truck. The charges for the phantom tows totaled nearly $10,000, making him the city’s most prolific ticket writer. After the story, the city suspended the officer, offered refunds and no longer allows ticketing officers to assess towing charges.
Tags: car; towing; ticket; fraud; police officer; parking; parking ticket
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Danger In Tow
ABC 15 investigators focus on the U-Haul tow dolly and find that those renting the tow dollies to motorists were ignoring safety concerns, resulting in a number of accident deaths. Specifically, these accidents happen when the rental equipment forced people's cars out of control. Delving into documents of nearly 40 such cases, the investigators further discover that some U-Haul locations did not even check a safety hook-up before allowing its customers to rent a tow dolly.
Tags: safety; victim depositions; u-haul; motorist; accidents; deaths; FOI
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The Tow-Away Tax Break
This article investigates the concept of car donation programs and discovers that these programs benefit everyone but the charities they are intended to help. The foremost beneficiary is the car donor who can get a tax deduction of about $1200 for a car that's hardly worth $200. The second beneficiaries are the fundraisers who victimize these charities, the story says. Also, the report points out that of the $37 million raised by commercial fundraisers in 1991 through the sale of donated vehicles, only $11.5 million reached charities.
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Bricker's Tow
A KGO-TV hidden camera investigation showed a towing company repeatedly towing cars illegally.
Tags: San Francisco; California; Bricker's Tow; towing; trucks; illegal; cars; impound; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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Impound Lot
A report on the City of Baltimore's impound lot and why many motorists were getting their cars back with major damage. The investigation found that the city's negligence was costing taxpayers more than a half million dollars per year in damage claims from citizens.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; City of Baltimore; impound lot; towed cars; city negligence; damage claims