Auto Towing, a company in Hunters Point that profited from illegally towing parked cars, has been barred from contracting with the city of San Francisco for the next five years.
The move by City Attorney David Chiu comes almost a year after Chiu first initiated debarment proceedings against the firm. It allegedly targeted “vulnerable” Spanish- and Cantonese-speaking residents, seniors, and individuals with disabilities, as Mission Local reported last summer.
In Chiu’s initial debarment filings from August 2023, victims described “feeling defrauded and intimidated,” and said that they could only pay for their cars with cash, a standard that directly contradicts the conditions of the California Vehicle Code.
In February and May 2023, the towing company removed several cars from a private bank’s parking lot in the Portola neighborhood without the property owner’s permission. The cars were then brought to a different towing company’s lot located on Oakdale Avenue, instead of Auto Towing’s 1229 Underwood Ave. location. Vehicle owners struggled to locate and retrieve their cars, the city attorney’s office said in a statement.
The towing service will not be allowed to apply for or receive contracts in the city again for up to five years, the maximum amount of time businesses can be barred. Auto Towing does not presently hold any city contracts, but did bid on one at the beginning of 2023. Debarment proceedings began last summer and the decisive administrative hearing was held July 23, 2024.
“Auto Towing engaged in predatory behavior and unfair business practices,” Chiu said in a statement. “This company intentionally misled and scammed people out of hundreds of dollars by illegally towing cars. Our City has no interest in contracting with exploitative businesses engaged in illegal conduct.”
The debarment is the latest in an unsavory saga for the towing firm. Auto Towing, as well as other affiliated companies and individuals, have been suspended since February 2024, when Abigail Fuentes and Jose Badillo were criminally charged in a welfare-fraud scheme.
The couple was accused of applying for and receiving welfare funds from Medi-Cal, CalFresh and CalWORKS for themselves and their dependents, despite operating three towing businesses that generated more than $2 million in gross annual income. Other felony charges included grand theft and perjury.
At the time, neither Auto Towing, Fuentes, nor Badillo responded to Mission Local’s requests for comment, stating that all queries could be directed to their lawyer, whose contact information they refused to provide.
They don’t get city contracts? How is this not a grand theft auto?
They recently towed my car. I had to pay after hour fees although there was someone at the yard. The women responding to my calls was very unprofessional and threatened to keep my car longer if she felt I didn’t apologize.
San Francisco!
By hook or by crook grab a City contract.
Cheat , steal and lie to extract/pirate as much loot as possible.
A few years down the road you might get “debarred” – for 5 years max.
Seems like you have to get the Feds involved to achieve:
“Judge sentences tow truck company owners to prison terms”