Clearfield mechanic runs off with car, owner left with $500 in impound fees

April 22--SYRACUSE -- Barbara Adams took her car in for a mechanical repair to a friend and former employer she trusted.

Five days after last hearing from him she got a letter from the state letting her know her 1998 Dodge Caravan had been impounded for possible theft. Now she is expected to pay more than $500 in fees just to get her stolen car back.

That's more than half our mortgage payment," Adams said, adding that they live on a fixed income because of her husband's mental disability. "If you're being honest you get screwed no matter what."

Between Adams, her husband and her 17-year-old son, they now only have one car. They don't plan on getting anything back from the shop owner, because they no longer trust him.

Adams says a 21-year-old employee at the shop went rogue and took the van out for a diagnostic test drive and ran out of gas -- at 1 a.m. in Clearfield. That's when the Utah Highway Patrol arrested Cameron John Albrechtsen, 21, and booked him into the Davis County jail for suspicion of driving on a revoked license and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Utah law requires that if a vehicle is impounded that the Department of Motor Vehicles is notified and it will send a letter in the mail letting the owner of the vehicle know it has been impounded. The problem for Adams was by the time she got the letter, the bill was above what her van was even worth. Every agency and King Tow, the Layton business that impounded the vehicle, has told her there is nothing they can do

It is a lesson of buyer beware.

Jacob Edwards, owner of King Tow, said he doesn't see the impound as his problem and adds there isn't anything he can do to help the woman. He was just following what police asked him to do.

"It would be the piece of (expletive) she let take her car," he said regarding who is liable. "And this is what they have to do is get it back [pay the fine] ... it has nothing to do with the tow company."

Another Layton tow company employee who wished to remain anonymous said a similar scenario happened where a man bought a car for his daughter and had an auto body shop do some paint work on it. One of the employees took the car out for a test drive without the plates or any tags on it and UHP pulled it over and impounded it. The angry father paid the tow company after finding out about the impound and the fines via mail several days later.

The tow company employee says he thinks there is a loop-hole in the system because owners aren't usually notified promptly by law enforcement or the automotive shop if their vehicle has been towed. They don't find out until receive a notice in the mail or their insurance company calls them.

Eric Lucero, owner of Anything Automatic & Standard in Clearfield, said Albrechtsen isn't an employee and just happened to be helping out that night. He said the man told him he would take the car down the street to get a tool and run an errand for Lucero -- but he never returned.

Lucero didn't find out until the next day from the man's mother that Albrechtsen had been booked into jail.

"He seemed like a fairly responsible kid, other than me finding out [after the fact that ] he had lost his license to traffic violations," Lucero said.

Albrechtsen had previously had his licensed revoked a month prior and failed to appear for a court hearing and prior to that had other underage drinking charges.

Adams says if UHP would have looked at the registration in the van's glove box and tried to make contact, all of this could have been avoided.

"If they would have left it alone, we could have put gas in it, and we would have been fine. But no, they had to impound it," she said.

Sgt. Matt Smith said UHP doesn't have the man-power to call or try to locate the registered owner of every vehicle it tows throughout the day.

"It kind of stinks for the owner," Smith said. "By policy we just end up towing it."

In the instance with Adam's car, the vehicle was towed in the early hours of the morning and UHP wasn't able to contact the business Albrechtsen was helping out because it was closed. The car wasn't registered as stolen, so it became a perfect storm for not being able to contact anyone.

Smith says sometimes it will do a tow and hold it for the owner, but even then it ends up being "more of a time issue" and troopers are "towing cars all day long" not knowing when the owner or a family member will be there to pick it up.

"Everybody has got somebody that can pick up a car," Smith said.

It comes down to getting ahold of someone and UHP only has the most updated information on the registration, which isn't always accurate or with the same person who drives the car or include a current phone number. In many cases it is just safer to have the vehicle towed off the road and deal with contacting the owners later, especially when there isn't a clear way of contacting an owner at the late hour.

Adams said she first took her car to Lucero by word of mouth. After getting her car fixed once he offered her a job.

She said he interviewed her and offered her a clerical job. There was no paperwork, everything was under the table. She worked for him from July to November when she quit because she wasn't getting paid anymore. She says this recent repair was to pay off the last debt he owed her. He claims they are even.

No one wants to pay the nearly $500 to get the car out of the tow yard, because it isn't even worth that much anymore. When it comes to taking Lucero to civil court for the loss, Adams said she wouldn't ever be able to collect anything.

"He has no money, I would get nothing out of him," she said.

According to federal court records, Lucero filed for bankruptcy in 2003. He admitted he doesn't have a business license yet and he is still doing lots of free work for people who can't afford the repairs.

He said he doesn't have any money to give her, but he has plenty of cars waiting to be repaired on his lot and he will give her one that is of equal value to her van.

He says he gives away to the community all the time, and Adams was no exception. He said he has fixed her van at least five other times.

"I'm not a rich man, so every time I can return the favor to the community, I do."

Lucero, who moved here from New Mexico a year ago, says he doesn't know if it is the community, her or what, but "it seems when you give somebody an inch, they will take a mile."

For now now Lucero says he will continue to give, but just in a different way.

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