The owner of a towing company was arrested Friday and charged with illegally towing vehicles of people who took part in last month's Gay Days events in Orange County.
Jason P. Combs, 44, owner of ASAP Towing, faces 29 counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle and other charges. Deputies allege he towed more than 100 vehicles June 5 to 9 from a parking lot at Westwood Town Center off International Drive, which is across the street from the event's host hotel, Doubletree by Hilton. Combs didn't have an up-to-date contract to tow vehicles or have proper signage notifying motorists the lot was a tow-away zone, deputies said.
His attorney, R. David de Armas, said Combs did have a valid contract with the owner and only vehicles that were illegally parked were towed. de Armas also said the fact that it happened during Gay Days was irrelevant.
But in one instance a victim said he felt he was targeted because of his sexual orientation.
Cpl. Rick Schmeltzer said the towing company also targeted vehicles the year before during Gay Days activities. During weekends with events other than Gay Days the company completed a "minuscule amount of tows," he said.
Schmeltzer also said the towing company had "spotters" to look for people who left the center so their vehicles so they could be towed.
"With many of these people, their cars were towed within 5, 10 15 minutes [of parking]," he said. "This was total predator towing. There's really no other word for it."
The tow truck would hide around the corner and when a spotter saw someone walk across the street to the hotel, the spotters would call the truck and the vehicle would be towed, the complaint says.
Those whose cars were towed would have to take a cab ride to the towing company and were charged $165 cash to get their car, including a $40 "gate fee," which isn't permitted under Florida law, the complaint says.
I'm sorry the guy tows more than 100 cars, and does so within 5 to 15 minutes after the owners walk away, and this ONLY happens during events for the LGBT community?
Hey if it walks like a bigot, quacks like a bigot, and tows cars like a bigot, he's a bigot.
If it didn't involve outright homophobia, then he probably figured that gay people were weak and wouldn't complain.
ReplyDeleteHow wrong he is....
So now gay people get to park illegally just because they are gay?
ReplyDeleteNo, it means towing companies cannot invade private property and tow vehicles without contracts. That is called predatory towing and is illegal. Now as a business owner I certainly don't want some fly-by-night company towing vehicles that may or may not be parked in my lot illegally. I have a contract with a towing company that gives them all the tows from my lot and only when we call, we do not allow them to even watch our lot. And, as a business owner, most of us are very open to allowing any vehicle to park in our lots when events are being held near our businesses, it builds a good name in the community and if they park by your business and just see your name that is free advertising. The business owners should actually sue this guy in civil court for damaging their companies images. Bad press can cost private businesses a horrendous amount of loss. And when we "job creators" lose money it means someone loses their job. Are you against a free market business? Are you a communist who thinks private businesses have no reason to earn a profit?
DeleteThe guy had no business having his people even drive their tow trucks onto private property, what are you? Socialist? Thinking private property owners don't have all rights to the property they pay for and pay taxes on?
You seem also seem to be very Marxist in your thinking, only your Marxist, commie, socialist way huh?
Leave private businesses alone or move to Cuba.
Try actually reading what was written before commenting... Ass-wipe!
DeleteI swear regressive people are practically brain dead.
But they still think they have something to add.
Quite a rant 9:42, it makes no sense but quite a rant. I'm guessing this guy gets off if it can be proven the cars towed were parked illegally.
DeleteIt is a simple question, does the gay community think they have special rights to park illegally on private property?
Of course they don't feel privileged. What an absurd assumption.
DeleteAt anon !:01PM
DeleteThey trespassed, they were in the wrong. It's kind of like someone not wanting you to drink diet soda and coming into your home to steal the soda to "save" you, still theft, still breaking and entering, still illegal.
But if you couldn't follow what I spelled out for you earlier then you are too stupid to learn anything, so you must be a Palin.
@Anon 1:01PM
Deletebut you forget the fact that the tow company broke quite a few laws to illegally tow anyone.
2:21 learn something from your garbled mess of an analogy? An analogy full of stupid holes and conflated ideas. And whats with the 'socialist' garbage you threw in for kicks? How does that fit in there? You are no teacher dumdum. And if you are going to throw in the word socialist, wouldn't that really be the act of all the people who weren't paying customers using the lot and parking illegally? It sounds also as if he may have had a verbal agreement or contract with the lot owner- so there may be more to the story than we all know.
DeleteOH, poor troll at 4:22 PM
DeleteIt wasn't an analogy at all, maybe you should look up the word. It wasn't this tow owners business if people were parked illegally at all. It was the individual owners of the properties in question. It wasn't up to the tow company owner o break the law because he was a dumb dumb, it was up to the tow owner not to commit felonies even though a few people were committing a parking violation on private property( which is not a criminal act, but a civil one). The owners, of the lots in question did not have an issue with the public parking in their lots during a public event, which means it isn't even a civil issue. If the owners of the properties would have had an issue, they would have called the towing companies that they had current contracts with. Now run along to Bristol's "christian" blog to spread more hate since you aren't intelligent enough to grasp that committing felonies is not legal.
Quite a number of the vehicles towed belonged to people who were patronizing a shop or restaurant in the shopping center---a.k.a. CUSTOMERS. The spotters waited until those people were in the store or restaurant, then called the towing company.
DeleteThe bachmann polygamy thing is hilarious, since the ONLY polygamists I have ever heard of are conservative. But then she wants to put immigrant children in work houses, teach them English and make them earn their keep.
ReplyDeleteI'm still seething from something that happened months ago. I was delivering meals on wheels at an apartment building. I was returning to my car when some tenants were on the balcony yelling at me that my car was being towed. The guy was backing his truck up to my car. I yelled that I could prove I was delivering meals on wheels, and he said I needed a sticker to park in that lot. I kept yelling at him until he drove off in a huff. The undelivered meals were in the car as well as my phone and my purse. And I'm straight.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever consider that maybe you shouldn't have parked illegally and that you caused the situation by your actions?
DeleteIf we had to have stickers for every apartment complex, there would be too many to put on the windshield. The guy was being predatory. He saw me taking the lunches in. There were about 30 vacant parking spaces in that lot and none were numbered. No one else had a sticker.
Deleteeclecticsandra- Here is the point, I guarantee you that those people reacted the way they did because they have been battling parking where they are at for a long time, and have zero empathy or patience left for people parking in their lot. I also guarantee you that they didn't single you out, they probably do the same to every single person that parks there illegally. That is why you saw all those empty spaces, most people probably know better than to park there anymore. Regardless, if you park illegally- don't be surprised when people act like dicks.
DeleteThe manager didn't call this guy. I saw him in the lot, and he was never on the phone. They had no problems, and the spaces were empty because the people are too poor to have cars. I think he was profiling me because I was driving a Subaru. I reported this to the Meals on Wheels people, and they had never had this happen before. Maybe they should tow FEdEX and UPS trucks, too. If there was a problem the apartment manager should have warned the MOW people that they need special stickers.
DeleteCan anyone say lawsuit? I hope this guy gets sued from here to kingdom come, by the car owners as well as the business owners. His legal fees alone would probably put him out of business, which he deserves. BTW, Orange County is notoriously Red.
ReplyDeleteSelective enforcement, for any reason, is wrong. It happened to me in NY with "No alternative side of the street parking" (whatever THAT means). I parked on the side that had cars parked up and down the street. Take tons of photos and show up for traffic court. The cars with out of state licenses were ticketed, while a car with new york tags and no handicapped sign, was parked illegally in a handicapped zone.
ReplyDelete