Topline: The City of Baltimore was forced to reimburse a woman $51,141 after the police accidentally auctioned off her truck to the highest bidder.
Key facts: Baltimore resident Mary Pat Staron’s Toyota Tacoma was seized by the city police in 2022 as part of a homicide investigation.
It wasn’t until August 2023 that the police finally told her she could pick up her truck. When she arrived, the Tacoma was nowhere to be found.
There had been a paperwork mistake, and the truck did not have a police hold when it arrived at the Department of Transportation’s depot, officials explained to the city spending board on Sept. 4. When the truck went unclaimed for 11 days — no one had told Staron yet that she could retrieve it — it was put up for auction, as per city policy.
The truck sold for $22,000, meaning the city will suffer a net loss of $29,141 from the fiasco.
The payment to Staron includes the truck’s value, as well as the loan and insurance payments she had to make while her truck was being held.
Background: Two months after the incident, the Baltimore Comptroller released an audit of the Baltimore Police Department’s towing services.
Auditors found that for 53% of towed cars, the Department of Transportation did not notify owners by mail within two working days that they needed to retrieve their car, as is required. For the remaining 47%, officials had no records proving that the notices were mailed on time.
Auditors wrote that, “Vehicle owners may miss the opportunity to retrieve their cars before they are auctioned off, which could raise constitutional concerns.”
The audit also claims that police are not properly tracking invoices for towing services and not enforcing a rule that towing companies must arrive on the scene 20 minutes after the police call them.
Summary: Selling off government property to downsize local agencies and return some money to taxpayers is a nice idea. The government just has to make sure it’s actually their property.
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