Thief in South Lake Charles
 

My neighbor called while I was on vacation this week. Someone stole my 4 wheeler. Believe or not, a sheriff deputy called Tuesday night and said they had found the thief riding it in the middle of the night, behind Pecan Acres apartments. When I got home, I had to pay $258 to get it out of the tow yard:pissed::pissed::pissed:

Why on Gods Green Earth would YOU have to pay to get it from a tow yard??? Wouldnt the THIEF be responsible for that???

What is going on in our world???

I suggest you call the DA's office and seek restitution from the no good thief as part of his sentence, also any damages to 4 wheeler, garage, shop, etc. that he caused

That ain't right... Someone steals your stuff and you have to pay to get it back..?

Call the DA and tell him you're seeking restitution.

Hey DeeCee you are welcome 😁

And by the way consider yourself lucky with $258 and no damage. The rest of us weren't so lucky.

Sounds like good work by your neighbor & CPSO for your recovery

Who is the tow yard turd charging you the $258?

glad you got it back. I hate thieves

why? they are just a local independent company trying to make a living is all they are doing. its not their fault that the sheriffs office didn't bring it to their own impound lot like SOP should dictate. why would you call and independent tow company to tow a stolen vehicle which is evidence in a criminal investigation in the first place is the REAL question needing to be asked here. if the sheriff doesn't have their own impound lot then the sheriffs office should be the one obligated to pay for towing and storage fees associated with reclaiming the stolen property to be turned over to the registered owner and those costs added to the crooks restitution in order to get out of jail.

The tow yard I picked it up at was nothing more than a junk yard. There was a $200 charge to tow it and $19 dollars a day

Probably because the tow truck company and the sherriff's department have some sort of "deal" so that anytime the sherriff's office can give the tow truck company an opportunity to rip someone's eyeballs out they jump on it!

Tow truck companies are ruthless and not just a "private owned company trying to make a living." There are plenty of other ways to make a living that allows you to keep your morals intact and not thrive off of spending your whole day looking to ruin someone's day by towing their truck, most of the time when it isnt even necessary!

I routinely see employees from these companies riding around and looking for someone to tow even though they are parked in an empty parking lot and no one has complained.

Every time I have had the pleasure of dealing with a tow truck company I have been treated with a total lack of respect, felt like I was being robbed, and needed to take a shower when I left! MOST of these guys are lower than meter readers in my book walking around gIvins paring tickets.

I say "Most" because there is obviously room for legitimate tow truck companies for dialed vehicles or when law enforcement arrests someone and needs to tow their vehicle. I guess there could be some tow companies that is ethical and does their work in a LESS SLIMELY manner than most. I surely have not dealt with them yet, though.

P.S.: If anyone on this site works for or owns a tow truck company I am sure you are the exception to the rule and are a stand-up individual.

$19 is the standard statewide daily storage rate. But $200 to tow a 4 wheeler ? Thats a rip off unless they had to have multiple trucks to get it out of the swamp somewhere.

pay the fees, get your property before the impound people steal the parts off of it, and seek restitution. it may take a long time, but you will get it back.
if the perp was a minor just getting his/her name might be difficult. then u will probly have to sue the parents, if they even know who they are.

best of luck!!!

years ago when a crackhead juvinille stole my truck and totaled it, they wouldn't tell me his name. insurance cut me a check and that was that. i sure hope that person is out the gene pool by now.

Three different people have had stuff stole from their garage in university place (south lake Charles) within a week on same street. People lock your stuff up and keep on the look out....

My ATV was stolen from my house a couple years ago.
I picked it up from the LCPD station on Enterprise... no charges.
Both of my racks, my speaker box, and my gun holder was gone.
Cost me about $700 to replace everything that was removed.

The dumb arze thief didn't even remove the registration from the back storage box... I had no problem proving it was mine... hahaha

Buy into one and, you'll understand their charges.
You get it!
That "junk" you saw laying around there was likely crap that people abandoned and, he's forced to pick up as a matter of public safety. In turn, he'll get to do 60 days worth of paperwork on a $50 car that literally isn't worth the fuel it would take to haul it to the scrap yard, once he actually got a title for the heap.

I looked into getting into the towing business. It didn't take me long to get away from the idea though. New truck, $83k. Insurance on truck, $7k/yr. Property for storage, cost depends on location. Prep to get one acre of land approved by LSP(who controls towing), almost $40k. Insurance for lot, $11k/yr. One pissed off tow calling LSP on you, days of auditing. Sitting on less than salvage vehicles that block good vehicles from being in your lot for more than 90 days, a major pain!

Now, factor in that you are married to this rolling expense 24 hours per day, 7 days a week and, it LOVES to break. DOT loves to fine the piss out of you for a cab light being out and, it's all for $150 tow, $19/day storage and, $25 of admin fees. It's like a ponzie scheme that I can't believe more people haven't jumped on!

Yeah but if there wasnt plenty of money to be made in the business then we wouldnt have one on every street!

Inundation does not mean prosperity. Your theory causes inundation. Someone sees someone with something and, they think that they can do it too. Now someone else sees two people doing it and, think "why not me too?". And, then the next guy and the next. There's a lot of em here too, just like there's a lot of collision centers. There have been a of collision centers pop up after mine and, it doesn't mean that there's a lot of money in it! I sure wish your theory was correct though!

Same thing happens with ppl who cut grass for a living.... ppl see other ppl doing it and so they try it... THen they start making good money.... get more clients.... quit their jobs... make 3x the money their normal jobs used to pay them.

I'm glad you have a $2500 mowing business to compare it to. Would you be interested in buying a collision center? I know where there's one for sale!

BTW, I'm glad that you got your quad back with no damage. They've been stealing a bunch of em around our area and, to date, I don't know that any of them have been returned. Mowers have been suffering the same.

I dont have one... but i know alot of ppl who do... One of them cuts the grass here @ westlake poly.... he gets paid 1/4 mill a year for this one job.

My neighbor has a tow truck business, there is no deal with any of the law enforcement who are requesting vehicles to be towed, the owner can request a particular company, but when law enforcement calls it in it's done based on a rotation list, that's fact ,His tow rates, storage fees, etc all regulated by LSP. It's a legitimate business that supports a wife & 3 kids.

in my experience anything that falls under the "unusual" as in not a car or truck gets the flat bed price charged weather they use it or not. they will charge the same $200 for a damn motorcycle or riding lawn mower even

I'm not sure why everyone is blaming the tow truck here when it never would have happened had these 2 little punks been raised not to run around stealing and vandalizing peoples stuff. I understand the tow fee just adds to the misery, but come on that dude just had a job to do.

Also perhaps a leo can chime in here, could the 4 wheeler had been released to the custody of the neighbor?

Guys, there was another four wheeler stolen last night along with a benelli shotgun.. location was off spanish mission trail in south lake charles.. green foreman with ITP tires.

I'm not blaming the tow company. However it could use a good cleaning up

Cop stopped by the house yesterday. Multiple cars were broken into very recently. Neighborhood east of Queen of Heaven.

They had one stolen the same night one street down on S Lake Court. Those kids were caught. I can only assume these are the same kids that stole the one you speak of. Be sure to look in to it.

Put the PARENTS in JAIL and the problem will stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!