My Own St. Louis Metropolitan Towing Story
In the current headlines is the relationship with the St Louis Metropolitan Police and a private company, St Louis Metropolitan Towing. As part of the story it turns out the daughter of Police Chief Mokwa was driving and had wrecked a car that had been impounded by the police. Turns out others had driven cars as well and many were able to buy cars at a fraction of market value. Chief Mokwa stated “I’ve done nothing wrong, and I have been forthcoming and explicit with all the information requested of me.” Mayor Slay, a member of the Police Board, is calling for Chief Mokwa to retire. I have my own personal St. Louis Metropolitan Towing Story. Before I can get to the story of my prior car ending up at St Louis Metropolitan Towing I need to give you the long back story.
In January 2006 I hired a guy to help me clear stuff out of a property I was selling as well as at my residence, both in Dutchtown. After a good day’s work he takes advantage of a lapse in my judgment and attention and grabs my laptop, digital camera, cell phone, wallet and keys off my desk and splits. My iPod was in the car — then less than two months old (a 2006 Scion Xa). The responding officer says the car will likely be found but everything else would soon be sold on the street. The date was January 22, 2006.
So I had to cancel credit cards, turn off the cell phone, and get another, get a new driver’s license, have my house re-keyed, and begin filing insurance claims which required finding proof of ownership & serial numbers on things like the laptop, camera and iPod. A couple of days later I get a call on my new cell phone. It was from a gas station in Farmington, MO — a woman used my old non-functional phone as collateral for a few bucks worth of gas. I tell the clerk the story of my stolen car but she doesn’t recall what kind of car the woman was driving. She calls their local police because they’ve been ripped off for $5 with a stolen phone. I call the Farmington Police as well as the St Louis Police to pass along this information. The Farmington Police for some reason called my parents (“Mom & Dad” on the phone). I didn’t want them to fret and worry so I hadn’t told them.
That night, at about 2am my home phone rings. The caller ID was blocked. The woman on the other end is asking how I’m doing. She explains that a couple she sorta knew came into her workplace that evening trying to sell my credit cards, ID, and car to help raise money for me. This woman remembered my name and address. She worked a late shift but when she got home she looked me up online because it all seemed to suspicious to her. I explained the whole sordid tale to her and asked her to call the police. She had seen my car! She didn’t want to get involved. All I knew about her was that she was in Park Hills, MO — a short drive from Farmington.
Less than an hour later the phone rang again this time the caller ID was not blocked. The woman felt sorry for me and thought she knew where the couple was staying if they hadn’t left town yet. She was in her vehicle heading to this motel to see if my car was there. Again I plead with her to call the police. While she is driving and we are talking she says she sees a sheriff’s vehicle coming toward her. “Flag it down,” I proclaim. She did. She explains to the Deputy what she knows and then I tell him more detail such as the make & model, color, plate# and the St Louis Police report number. The Deputy takes off toward the motel where this woman thought they were staying. She follows. It is now well past 3am and I am wide awake despite not having slept well the past few nights.
This couple had just pulled back into the motel as the Sheriff’s Deputy, who was off duty and on his way home, pulled up. Busted. I thank the woman profusely for her help.
Later that day I talk to the officer. The description of the man with the woman didn’t the man that actually stole it. However, the couple both had outstanding warrants. The Deputy had the car towed by a local company and said I could pick it up the following day. My parents were relieved.
So I enlist a good friend to drive me to Park Hills — an hour plus South of St Louis. I had arranged to meet another Deputy there as they hadn’t fully processed the car. The car was packed with clothes, shoes and stuff. The owner’s manual and such were missing. No sign of my computer, camera or iPod — those were long gone. The car had lost it’s new car smell and now reeked like an ashtray. Despite being a cold day in January I drove the car the hour home with the windows down.
I get the car cleaned up and eventually get my other items replaced by my homeowner’s policy. In March of 2006 I do a road trip to Memphis & Little Rock and end up in Oklahoma City for my Mom’s 75th birthday. When my mom passed away in June 2006 I drove back for the services. Over the next few months I drove back at least twice to visit my Dad — alone for the first time in nearly 57 years.
Fast forward now to January 2007. I drove downtown for the monthly Preservation Board meeting, parking on 10th street just around the corner from the SLDC offices at 1015 Locust. The date was the 22nd — the year anniversary of my car being stolen. The agenda was long and there was at least one item I addressed the Board about. The meeting started at 4pm and it went past my two hour maximum on the meter. After the meeting I fully expected to have a parking ticket for the expired meter. Surprise, no ticket, no car!
I see I have a message on my phone. It was the police saying they recovered my stolen car. Wow, that is fast I thought. It couldn’t have been missing for long. I called the officer and she tells me proudly they found my car that was stolen a year earlier to the day. To secure the car they had it towed to St Louis Metropolitan towing.
The St Louis Police records still showed my car as being stolen. The sheriff’s dept that recovered the car the prior year insists they informed the St Louis Police but their records of such have already been destroyed. I get a friend to drive me back to my South Side place. The next morning another friend picks me up so I can ride with him to work downtown. From there I walk Northbound on 10th headed to St Louis Metropolitan Towing to get my car. The fee was double that from a year earlier. One reason it was more expensive is they had to use a flatbed truck since the car was locked and they couldn’t put it in neutral and release the emergency brake.
After I paid the ransom I had to walk a few blocks West to the lot where my car was being held. Nobody had driven the car because it was still locked and they had no keys for it. Back in my car I head to a luncheon of the Society of Professional Journalists. The topic was working with the police on getting information for a story. One of the panelists was an officer who was an aid to Chief Mokwa. I explain the issue of how the St Louis Police stole my car a year after it had been stolen and how I just had to pay a ransom to get it back. A few weeks later another officer calls me and asks a few questions. It was a good 3-4 months later but I got reimbursed not from St Louis Metropolitan Towing but from the St Louis Police.
In December of 2006 my car and a few others were vandalized with gold spray paint. In 2007 I sold that car and put all these events into the back of my memory. That is until the stories about St Louis Metropolitan Towing and Chief Mokwa’s daughter appeared in the news last week.
Moral of the stories…don’t live in the City.
Yes, John. Good summary… Car stolen, lives in city = stay out of city.
Thanks, moron.
John can’t provides morals to stories, because he has no morals to give.
I have my own story too – car got stolen from back of our house early in the morning. While we were at work they found it about 5 blocks away, tried to call ONCE and then had it towed to the lot. So, pissed off, we went to the lot and it didn’t work (was a piece of junk anyways) It was going to be $250 whether we took it off the lot or not, so we paid and had to push the car off the lot (me being a 23 year old female coming straight from work in heels and dress clothes and my husband the same (no heels). It was horrible! The people were more than unfriendly and basically left me in tears because of their statements and actions (like laughing as my husband and i pushed the car off the lot and eventually jumped it – which again, we were not allowed to do ‘on their lot’) ugh – sorry you seemed to have struck a chord and i’m sure many other people have similar complaints.
I had a very similar thing happen 5 years ago downtown, I locked the car but it was broken into at the ‘SECURED impound lot’ and vandalized so badly it was totaled and all of my belongings were stolen! The man said it happens all the time, ‘fill out these forms and the City will reimburse you………’
Me thinks the Chief resigning so quickly indicates we haven’t heard the last of this one.
I read on the St L Coptalk that the parked cars the young Amy hit with the car she rolled belonged to an off duty St L PO.
Regards towing companies, this all brings to mind the nefarious Leisure brothers, of local car bomb fame, who ran a towing outfit in Lafayette Square while conducting their reign of terror.
Speaking of the Lesiure brothers, the registered agent for the towing company with Missouri Secretary of State is Paul Simon Jr., a relative of the mayor’s, son of of the judge w/ whom Slay clerked and brother of Sam Simon, the director of public safety who ran Sherman George out of the fire service and now runs the rental cops at SLU. See here:
http://confluencecity.blogspot.com/2008/07/fool-in-trenches.html
As for the Leisures, call the City morgue and ask for the director. You’ll get Baxter Leisure.
Can’t make this stuff up.
Dang… you handled this much better than I would have. I think I would have wound up in jail for punching someone. Sometimes you do all you can, but in the end, the little guy still loses. Although, you sorta won here… but having to go through all that crap is, well, crappy.
This is all the result of the bad karma you accrued when you purchased a Scion xA, aka. a “fake MINI Cooper” instead of the real thing. If you’d bought a MINI, none of this would have happened, and you’d have been showered with great blessings as well.
[slp — Fake MINI Cooper? I was just buying an inexpensive 4-door hatchback. Today a used 2006 Mini costs more that what I paid for the new 2006 Scion.]
I hate to agree with John from the first comment, but I think he’s partially right. I lived in the City for 12 years, decent neighborhoods (dogtown, Tower Grove). My car was stolen once, broken into 5 times. Each time you pay the deductible to get the window replaced. When it was stolen, I end up paying to get it back from City Impound after 2 weeks – how does this make any sense? Steve is right, it’s ransom.
I love the City, but it can wear on you sometimes.
Lets face it the police does not put it in the computer that you found your car so they can tow it again and make more money several of my friends said the same thing happened to them and they will steal any thing of value in your car they have a god complex at metropolitan tow i hope this company pays the piper.
FYI, very few percentage of vehicles on the street require a flatbed tow truck. Mostly these vehicles that need a flat bed are certain types of SUV’s.
ANY tow truck driver is equipped with devices to break into the vehicle to disengage a parking brake. This allows either the front or rear end to be lifted and towed. If any tow company gives you trouble about it’s against the law for them to break into vehicles, it’s complete BS.
I had one of my VW buses towed there once by the city… when they decided to re-pave the street without any warning and had everyone’s cars on the block towed… and then didn’t pave the street that day! And the icing on the cake? I went to get it, and found my $200 Optima battery stolen! Same thing.. push if off the lot, leave it parked in the ‘hood’ and go get a battery.. etc.
A GF of mine had her Saturn towed there too… the tow truck driver managed to bust up the front lower fairing piece and ripped the inner sidewalls of BOTH front tires! They denied that.. said it had “2 flats when we picked it up” BS!!! They would have had to drag it out of the parking spot to get it up on a truck.. and they did that by wrapping those meat-hook things around the front wheels!
No compensation from the city was ever received in either instance.
It’s all a big racket.
Having moved back to St. Louis in 1999 and learned that life was not as simple as I approached 30. The ease of employment opportunity in other cities left me to assume that leaving a position here, I would find another quickly. I did not. Out of some desperation I took a position months later with S&H Parking. While I never had anything to do with the towing operation, I was a witness to the abrupt and brutal nature of the ex-cop that handled the window there at 1320 North 10th. I was briefly told about the contract they handled with the city that made little sense to me at the time.
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I am limited in my knowledge of what went on behind the scenes, as my employment with them was self terminated within the year due to changing fortunes on the job front, but I am in the know about one fact that was not reproduced at any local news agency, despite my reporting to them as such.
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In late 2002-early 2003, the FBI came by my parents house, an address I maintained on official documents due to my transitory youth. So I get a call from my mother later in the day stating as such and I could tell she was shaken by the experience. Explicable in feeling, as my late teens through to 21 saw many run-ins with local police, traffic offenses and one DWI. I have long since quit drinking, so don’t feel compelled to lecture me. I bring it up to clarify why my mother would have been upset at the encounter, it was fear that I was that horrible teenager all over again.
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I call the FBI officer soon after talking to my mother and find out he wants to talk to me about my brief employment with S&H parking, but fails to provide details. I meet him later in the week downtown. He asks me several questions about the towing operation and its relationship with the city. I am unable to provide many details that help clarify the situation for him. I share what little I know though. I also enlighten to some things not asked. He thanks me. I ask him his summation of the investigation of the city contract. He informs me at the time of the interview he cannot figure out how the city benefits from it. Essentially there is no financial gain to the city in having S&H, otherwise known as Metrolpolitan Towing, provide their services to the city. Interesting to me and I imagine to him as well.
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Since nothing ever was reported about this investigation, but it was the FBI after all, I assumed it was just a case of shady business that would never change. The recent comment by Catherine Hanaway, told me I should report what I do know about an FBI investigation. Since she was quoted in St.LPOST as saying “why didn’t an official agency investigate into the allegations of possible misconduct?” I contacted two agencies of reporting the news to the fact that an FBI investigation did in fact take place in 2002-2003, since I was one interviewee of such. I was suprised to see in her quote that she was unaware of it, considering her position.
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I must admit I am pleased to see this contract with the city end, but I am less pleased that the city will once again be promoting from within to replace Mokwa. I thought Chief Mokwa was pretty good, considering everything. I have plenty of complaints about city policing, and would reserve such comments for a topic regarding it. But an agency in need of a top down overhaul is best served by someone that did not grow up in its ranks.
Reading this story brought to mind an experience a few years ago that made me question who the SLPD really serves, and why it was offering favors to downtown parking entities. In this case, the favor went to a private company that had the valet parking concession for special events (eg big ballroom meetings) at the Renaissance Hotel. I’m not sure which company that was, but I know it was contracted.
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I owned an art gallery, Gallery Urbis Orbis, at 419 Tenth Street from 2003 – 2005. The exit of the hotel parking garage on Tenth St. was directly opposite the gallery. Here’s what I witnessed. For a period of time not long after the ballroom part of the hotel opened, valet parking attendants were exiting the parking garage going THE WRONG WAY, northbound on Tenth Street (which is one-way southbound), usually at high rates of speed, to the corner of Washington, where they would turn right. This was a lot quicker than going all the way around the block, legally following the one-ways.
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After witnessing this, I contacted the hotel’s valet manager and then the police about what seemed to me to be not only a violation of the law but a very, very dangerous practice, and was told, much to my surprise, that the valet operator had been issued a paid permit to drive the wrong way, and that said permit was issued by the Police Department itself.
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Yep. Wrong-way driving on city streets by teenagers, courtesy of the SLPD.
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Never mind that pedestrians and other drivers didn’t know about this permit. Pedestrians exiting the garage and crossing Tenth Street at St. Charles St. didn’t know to look left for traffic, and stepped out into the street only to sometimes have to jump back as the valet speed demons whipped out of the garage going the wrong way.
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When I questioned the wisdom of this permit, the SLPD said that because the valets were “coning” the east lane of Tenth Street, it was okay. This meant they put several orange cones along the dotted line that separated the easternmost lane of Tenth Street. As I observed, though, the coning happened only occasionally, during large events, but the valet drivers began taking this wrong-way shortcut day in and day out, cones or no. And even with the cones in place, southbound traffic had no way to know that they would face wrong-way drivers in that “coned” lane.
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After witnessing a few near-miss head-on collisions, not to mention pedestrian blow-backs to the sidewalk, out the front window of the gallery, I began contacting officials including the then-captain of the 4th precinct, Mary (can’t remember her last name right now). I got no satisfaction; in fact, after I left her a voicemail detailing my concern, Xaptain Mary left me a brusk return voicemail failing to respond to my concern but noting that she had seen people drinking alcohol outside of my business establishment the night before and that she might need to follow up on that (my business was not open or occupied on the night she mentioned, but a private party was occurring two doors down). In any case, the message I got was clear, though: don’t F with me, lady.
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Meanwhile, I kept watching the madness out my front window. Finally, truly frightened that I might see someone lose their life (and disgusted with the SLPD and the hotel for allowing what to me was an egregious public safety risk), I emailed the hotel manager and the hotel insurance risk manager and offered to testify for plaintiffs in any future cases against them in which a pedestrian or motorist was harmed because of these actions. I noted that I believed that the hotel and the city’s actions put both entities up for great liability, especially after having been warned by witnesses (I was not the only citizen that complained) that the practice was resulting in near-miss accidents. The wrong-way practice soon halted; I can only guess that the risk manager asked them what the HELL they were thinking.
Anyway … this is my story of SLPD scratching the wrong people’s backs. And sadly, another example of how the city manages to alienate its best advocates.
Margie
A lot of the problem lies with some of the undesirable elements in the city. Both legitimate stolen and “fake” stolen cars are reported every day in the city. A lot of scenarios go something like this: Girl loans boyfriend car. Boyfriend then loans car to friend. Friend loans car to someone else and that friend uses car to create some sort of problem.
All this happens within a 8 hour time frame or so and next thing you know car is involved in some major altercation.
Police deal with this sort of situation all the time and it gets frustrating for them. Most of the time, they don’t know what’s legit or not, therefore they take the easy route all of the time.
Stolen vehicles were an epidemic a few years back. Now it’s just an extremely serious problem.
Car culture in control. Imagine how much is sacrificed in giving cars, not people, priority. Poorly managed law enforcement, sidewalks to nowhere, noise, pollution, “accidents”, corruption, crime, excessively large highways, higher insurance premiums, parking lots larger than the stores they support, life threatening intimidation with oversized vehicles,….all blossoming because of a disease of dependence. Money needed to support sustainable, prosperous and enjoyable communities instead are used to support dependencies that lead to a long list of growing personal and civil problems.
Hi Margie. How are you and your husband faring in Chicago? I was so sad to see you go. Your gallery was a favorite of mine. The valet firm you speak of was Midwest Valet for that particular contract. Both the restaurant and the special events at the hotel ballrooms were handled by them. They are notoriously abusive of the leniency granted them, in my opinion.
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Ohh, Captain Mary J. Warreneke was a prize for the 4th district, now stationed at the 2nd district I think. I liked her predecessor much more, now a Major. O’Toole was his name. Once she took over, I was convinced she didn’t give a ‘care.’ She lacked people skills as was evident in the exchange you had with her. Wherein Major O’ Toole knew how to politic. You can’t beat the Irish for that.
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By the way Margie, good job getting them to change their operations on this procedure of going the wrong way. That and many things is why people such as you and your husband are sorely missed in DT landscape.
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So do you have a gallery in Chicago now? And I apologize to all for going off-topic once again.
Hi John,
Ah yes, Warnecke. After Capt Warnecke came on the scene we definitely missed Capt O’Toole, with whom we had a great neighborhood collaboration. Capt. O’Toole had been there since I moved into the loft district in 2000, and we had worked on many things together as the neighborhood took hold, such as actively supporting St. Pat’s homeless shelter while trying to address issues at Rev. Rice’s place. He was a real partner and brought solutions to the table. The replacement of him with Capt. W and her “style” was a cold bucket of water for those of us who were hoping to move things forward.
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Thanks for the kind words too. We’re doing great in Chicago, but out of the gallery business and tending our own garden more. That venture in StL was more of a civic gesture to help kickstart retail and an arts scene downtown. (Alan is still painting and showing his own work though.) We remember downtown St. Louis fondly but the memories of frustration are still fresh too.
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Cheers, Margie
In a previous comment, I said Paul Simon Jr. is a relative of the mayor’s. He has since denied this to me. But he is the registered legal agent for Metro Towing, the son of the judge w/ whom Slay clerked, and the brother of the director of public safety appointed by Slay who ran Sherman George out of the fire service. Several updates to this story are on my blog, if you’ll pardon the self-promotion. http://confluencecity.blogspot.com
This story must be so old news that don't matter anymore to any of the media.
http://interact.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-birds…
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008…
http://www.beloblog.com/KMOV_Blogs/n4idailybrie…
I parked on Tucker for what was expected to be a short hearing at Civil court, and my Van was found by me, not the/my local police, 3 months later at St. Louis Metropolitan Towing.(1325 N.10th. St.) I lost a job, and hundreds worth of professional equipment, including personal items.
Yet when the police Officer; Sgt. John Vogt; DSN 3709 met me there, I was threatened to be arrested for the stolen plates were found on it.
And he refused to make a report that My '96 Ford Van, and contents was stolen.
The manager; J.C./Bill/John (Names that changed everytime I asked) demanded my keys to my own stolen van
before having me sign a receipt to obtain what turned out to be empty backpack that had personal papers.
I was told I could buy my (stolen) vehicle for $1,500. (Later he asked for $2,000. !!!
Then he sends me out to the lot to look inside the van, but I was threatened by other employees that
told me, ( and a witness that was with me; Nathan Snyder) ” You are on camera. Do not to take anything out or we will call the police.”
When in fact, I was there because I had direct permission from Ho. Judge Steven Ohmer to retrieve my property.
What do you think?
Perhaps that Towing Company is still going strong with police connections,
and its all still just business as usual.
Please. Someone look into them. Again.