MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office agreed Tuesday to return three wreckers that authorities seized from a tow truck company as part of a criminal investigation.
The defendant in the civil case, SOS Towing owner Gary Smith Jr., consented to forfeiting a red Rollback Wrecker. A law that took effect in January left the defendant with few options. That law allows the state to dispose of any claimed property if the claimant dies during litigation. The company’s founder, Gary Smith Sr., died recently. His attorney, Dennis Knizley, told FOX10 News that the wrecker was titled in Smith’s name and that he used it to tow a trailer on his farm.
“It gave us no choice,” he said.
JC Smith, Gary Smith Sr.’s son, told FOX10 News that the family plans to fight the law in federal court. He estimated the value of the wreckers that the state is returning at $200,000.
The civil action stems from an investigation that resulted in criminal charges against Smith Sr. and Smith Jr. Authorities charged the defendants with first-degree insurance fraud, accusing them of charging insurance companies towing and storage fees that exceeded the maximum allowed by city ordinances for towing companies that participate in a program run by the Mobile Police Department.
The defendants deny wrongdoing. JC Smith said the police alleged that the fees were not written into the city ordinance, but he added that SOS Towing charged the fees laid out by the Mobile Police Department’s fee schedule.
“I’m confident that we’re going to beat this. … We charged according to that free schedule,” he said.
Under the settlement approved Tuesday by the Mobile County Circuit Judge Wesley Pipes, the District Attorney’s Office agreed to return the three wreckers in the same condition they were in when the police seized them.
A criminal trial is set for October.
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