Seattle Towing Firm Under Fire -- Hundreds Of Tows May Have Been Illegal

A Seattle towing company may have illegally removed hundreds of cars from private lots using "spotters" with whom the company allegedly has an improper financial relationship.

If the tows are ultimately shown to have been improper, it would mean hundreds of motorists may have paid thousands of dollars to recover cars that were illegally towed - even if the car owners trespassed or failed to pay parking fees in the first place.

But what bothers state and city investigators even more is that they believe the towing company is engaging in a predatory practice - towing away cars without specific authorization of property owners in order to generate more business for itself.

City and state investigators have concluded that Seattle Towmasters has violated both city and state towing ordinances. Administrative and misdemeanor criminal sanctions have been recommended against the company.

According to state law, it is illegal for tow companies to use spotters - people whose main business is identifying cars parked in private lots to haul away - unless the property owner specifically authorizes it.

It is also illegal for tow companies to have a business connection with another company whose main business involves finding vehicles to be towed.

Investigators say that since last November, Seattle Towmasters, under new ownership, has taken the same type of inappropriate, aggressive approach to impoundments from private lots that led to

administrative actions against the company's previous owner.

That approach also led to new state statutes barring predatory practices that enrich towing companies at the expense of motorists and the expense of property owners, who may have to go to court to testify in disputed tow cases and could be held liable for tows that are ruled improper.

Last March, a Seattle police officer cited the owner of Seattle Towmasters, Carlo Spatari, for violating the no-business-connection provision. The criminal citation - under review by the King County prosecutor's office - was issued after Spatari unsuccessfully tried to block city police from enforcing state law.

More recently, an investigator with the state Department of Licensing accused the company of running afoul of nine provisions of state law, and concluded Towmasters has been engaged in a "purposefully elusive and illegal arrangement" with spotter agencies.

The company's way of doing business "injures competition, fosters crime and seriously harms the people of the State of Washington," investigator Pat Semler wrote in a report submitted to his superiors late last month. Semler declined to elaborate on his report.

And an inspector with the city Department of Licenses and Consumer Affairs, Kate Catalano, has recommended the city attorney file a criminal complaint against the company and one of its spotters for unauthorized removal of vehicles without the permission of the property owner - the city of Seattle.

Spatari says he may have unintentionally towed some cars from city property near Union Street and Western Avenue, and says he'll reimburse anyone who can show he did.

But he maintains he neither employs spotters nor normally tows cars without proper authorization.

Even though he says he hasn't paid any spotters, Spatari contends there's nothing in the law to stop him from doing so. He cited a provision that exempts security companies whose "main activity" involves something other than spotting.

Spatari couldn't explain, however, how two security spotters he has recommended to property owners - Seattle Professional Parking (ProParking), and Seattle Commercial Security - can afford to offer their services "Ask them," he said.

Two men whom Spatari identified as current spotters declined to speak.

One former ProParking spotter contends Spatari paid her a percentage on each tow.

The new investigations were prompted by a complaint from a Harborview Medical Center surgeon whose car was towed last March from a downtown lot on the authorization of a ProParking spotter.

"It is my impression that Towmasters employs professional spotters to cruise an area where their signs are posted and tow cars on a moment's notice," Dr. Gregory (Jerry) Jurkovich wrote to various state and local officials.

Until late February, ProParking was owned by Spatari's father-in-law.

Catalano, the city inspector, said every Towmasters tow authorized by ProParking from November until then is suspect.

Court records show ProParking spotters continued to "authorize" hundreds of tows after the outfit changed hands in February. But city inspector Catalano says she has been unable to locate anyone connected with ProParking.

The address the new owner supplied for ProParking, she said, is of a closed-down grocery store with a disconnected Bellevue phone number.

Written reports filed with Seattle police show that in about 80 percent of the roughly 1,300 private-impoundment reports Towmasters filed this year, the company relied on an ambiguous entity described only as "security" as the authorizing agent for the tows.

By contrast, most comparable reports filed by Towmasters' competitors list the property owner or the authorizing agent by name.

Told of the reports, Semler, the state investigator, said it appears Seattle Towmasters is creating business for itself through spotters.

"Who is paying" the spotters? is the question city inspector Catalano wants answered. "Who is benefiting from this?"

The company charges $150, plus tax, for private impoundments.

If Spatari, 49, is found to have violated state law or city towing ordinances, the company could face administrative sanctions, including loss or nonrenewal of its licenses.

At least one property manager says Seattle Towmasters towed cars off his lot using a spotter agency with whom he has not signed a contract.

Charles Royer, facility manager for Shurgard Storage at 55 Union St., said he never signed a contract with Seattle Commercial Security - a spotter agency used by Seattle Towmasters - to act on Shurgard's behalf to authorize Towmasters to tow improperly parked cars from Shurgard property. Royer said he is considering switching to another tow company as a result.

None of the Seattle-based tow companies with city contracts for towing services employ spotters for private tows, Catalano said.

A former employee of ProParking, Alicia Clements, said she "sold" free spotter service to about a half-dozen Seattle property owners. She said Spatari told her to never volunteer any mention of financial arrangements.

Royer, the Shurgard facility manager, confirmed he took the free service from Clements not realizing there was a possible illegal arrangement between Towmasters and ProParking, and that she told him about the percentage arrangement with Towmasters after he asked.

Licensing officials aren't the only ones who have noticed Towmasters' questionable relationship with spotters.

Earlier this year, Seattle District Court Commissioner Jim Gorham told Spatari he planned to rule against him in several cases after hearing evidence suggesting an improper association between ProParking and Towmasters. But he said Spatari told him he had decided to settle the cases out of court.