Towing Companies - crooks masquerading as a legitimate business

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From Inquirer.net:

Errant towing firm crew arrested, faces kidnapping, fraud raps

By Nancy C. Carvajal
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:41:00 02/17/2010

MANILA, Philippines--Three employees of a towing company have been arrested by the police after they towed a vehicle with its occupants still on board in Quezon City.

Senior Insp. Rodelio Marcelo, chief of the Quezon City Police District’s anticar theft unit, said the three were arrested Tuesday following a brief chase with the tow truck careening through Commonwealth Avenue, dragging the towed vehicle behind it as its occupants held on for dear life.

Marcelo said two other employees of Tiger Wheels Towing Services were able to escape.

He added that this was the first time members of the towing crew were arrested although there had been three complaints against the company regarding its operations.

Those arrested were Ariel Arnido Sr., the tow truck driver; team leader Dominador Quilongquilong and Ceasar Ramos. They identified their companions who were able to escape as Alfred Singson and Letecia Bane.

Marcelo said Arnido was found to be using a fake driver’s license while the crew was operating on an expired permit from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

The three will be charged with car theft, resisting arrest and fraud, he added.

According to Marcelo, the towing company crew were arrested after they led the police on a brief chase which started in Commonwealth Avenue all the way to Fairview Citimall where Arnido and company jumped off the tow truck and ran in different directions. Three of the crew were later arrested while two others eluded their pursuers.

A police investigation said Mark Anthony Dillena, the owner of the private jeep which was being towed, was arguing with the towing crew on the thoroughfare when the police spotted them and approached the group.

But when Arnido and the rest of the crew saw the police, they immediately boarded the tow truck and took off, dragging Dillena’s jeep with some of his relatives still inside the vehicle.

Dillena later told the police that he had stopped by the roadside after his jeep developed engine trouble. He said that he was about to start the vehicle when the towing crew arrived and without any warning, attached his vehicle to their truck.

Marcelo said that Commonwealth Avenue was a towing zone with unattended vehicles in danger of being towed.

“But if the driver is there, he should be asked to move the vehicle,” he added.

Score one for the good guys!
What we need is an immediate and total ban on these towing companies.