Junkyard Rules Aimed at Car Theft by Tow Truck : Police Want to Stop Sale of Stolen Autos for Scrap
A rash of auto thefts in which older cars have been towed from San Fernando Valley streets and sold for scrap has prompted Los Angeles police to call for salvage-yard regulations aimed at preventing destruction of stolen vehicles.
In the last month, seven people have been arrested in the East Valley on suspicion of auto theft for towing cars to salvage yards and selling them without the owners’ consent. And authorities say at least another dozen tow-truck operators have engaged in the practice.
The police proposal, scheduled to be considered by the Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday, would require junk dealers citywide to notify police about each car they purchase for destruction and to hold the cars intact for five days before crushing them. Junk dealers would also have to keep records so they could provide police the name of any seller of a vehicle that turned out to be stolen.
“It’s been happening for a long time but never on this scale,” Detective Glen Higgins said of tow-truck operators stealing cars. Higgins is head of the Consolidated Effort to Combat Auto Theft, a multi-agency task force set up in the Valley last year.
Tow-Truck Thieves
Since the salvage yards pay according to weight, the tow-truck thieves have targeted large, older-model American autos, which can bring up to $200 each, Higgins said. They have also sought out dirty cars or cars that appear to have been in accidents since such vehicles are less likely to attract attention as they are hauled away, Higgins said.
People who have seen tow trucks picking up vehicles in their neighborhoods only suspect foul play after they hear that their neighbors’ cars have been stolen, Higgins said.
Of about 1,500 cars reported stolen each month in the Valley, Higgins said, 10% to 15% are older autos in disrepair. These cars frequently belong to low-income families who cannot afford to lose what is sometimes their sole means of transportation, he said.
While newer stolen cars are frequently recovered, though usually with parts missing, these older autos rarely turn up, except as compact blocks of crushed metal at junkyards, Higgins said.
After four tow-truck operators were arrested in North Hollywood on Aug. 4 on suspicion of auto theft, police searched Valley Junk, a San Fernando scrap yard, and found the crushed remains of four stolen cars.
Police said those arrested had been stealing 10 to 12 cars a day from the North Hollywood and Pacoima areas and selling them as scrap.
Although police say they do not believe that junkyards deliberately collaborate with such thieves, they add that regulating such businesses is the best way to halt the destruction of stolen cars.
But Valley junkyard operators, who say they would not crush a car they knew was stolen, believe that it is unfair to target them for increased regulation.
“The police want us to do their work for them,” said Mike Raspa, manager of Valley Junk.
Raspa said he requires a seller to produce a “junk slip” before he buys a car for crushing. But junk slips, which are issued by the state Department of Motor Vehicles and authorize a vehicle’s destruction, are easily forged, police say.
Before a junk slip is issued, the DMV requires proof of ownership.
But ownership papers can be easily obtained by thieves since car owners often keep them in the car’s glove compartment, police say.
And to make matters worse, the DMV does not contact police agencies about whether a vehicle is stolen before issuing a junk slip, police say.
Sharon Larkin, weighmaster of San Fernando Crushing in Sun Valley, said her lot requires junk slips. But she said the lot is occasionally duped by car thieves.
“There is definitely a problem,” she said.
Paper Work Unwelcome
Still, she said, the rules before the Police Commission would create unwelcome paper work for the salvage yard’s staff.
And the yard would have insufficient space to store cars intact during the mandatory holding period, she said.
Police have also proposed to the City Council that state legislation be requested that would allow authorities to regulate tow-truck operations outside the city.
Now police can conduct unannounced inspections of towing companies in Los Angeles but have no jurisdiction over operations based outside the city.
The seven tow-truck operators arrested in the last month are:
Jorge Barrocal, 30, of Sherman Oaks; Angel Simones, 28, of North Hollywood, and Pacoima residents Douglas Gray, 34; Jorge Cruz, 42; Teri Lynn Anderson, 32; Malcolm Pfeferstein, 20, and Ronald Isaacs, 51.
Barrocal, Simones, Gray and Cruz were arrested in North Hollywood on suspicion of auto theft and have been released on $1,500 bail each.
The district attorney’s office has until the end of the month to file charges against them, authorities said.
Preliminary hearings are scheduled Monday in San Fernando Municipal Court for Anderson and Pfeferstein, each arrested in Pacoima on suspicion of grand theft auto and receiving stolen property.
Isaacs, charged with five felonies relating to his alleged car thefts, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Aug. 21 in San Fernando Municipal Court.
Another tow-truck operator, Lee Schurr, 63, of Pacoima, pleaded guilty to one count of auto theft in San Fernando Municipal Court on May 12.
He was sentenced to 120 days in County Jail and four years probation. Authorities say Schurr and Isaacs were working together.
