Towing request faked, state investigator finds
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A Seattle towing company forged or otherwise doctored the name of a Starbucks employee to authorize impounding a truck from a store on Capitol Hill, a state investigator has concluded.
State law requires a signed authorization from the property owner or his agent before a towing company can impound a vehicle off private property.
But the Starbucks barista who supposedly signed an authorization was not on the scene for the November tow at approximately 1 a.m., according to recently concluded review by a Department of Licensing (DOL) investigator.
The alleged violation is against TBT Towing, which had a contract with the Starbucks store at 1600 E. Olive Way. Citywide, TBT hooked up about 2,400 vehicles in each of the past two years and probably does more private impounds than any other Seattle tow company, according to TBT general manager Rick Woodrow.
Citing the state's investigation, Starbucks yesterday announced it had terminated its contract with TBT. "Any unauthorized actions by TBT Towing are not condoned by Starbucks," said company spokeswoman Lara Wyss, who added that Starbucks "regrets if any customers had unsatisfactory experiences at the East Olive Way store."
In a brief phone interview Thursday, barista Paul Hunter said it's "anybody's guess" how his signature got on an authorization form to tow the pickup. Noting that he'd previously signed "over 250" towing authorizations, he added, "I don't think it takes a lot of imagination to guess how it might have got there."
Until contacted by a reporter this week, Woodrow said he was unaware of Hunter's claims and the findings made earlier this month by DOL investigator Sotero Rambayon. Woodrow said he planned to look into them.
Woodrow said he recently dismissed a driver for skirting required authorizations but said those transgressions did not involve the Starbucks store on Olive Way, the only Starbucks with a TBT contract. Woodrow said some of his drivers are paid on commission and it's impossible to track what each driver does every day.
Since his company and Starbucks' Olive Way store became the subject of negative publicity earlier this year, Woodrow said he has been checking "virtually every single authorization and impound file." If the state investigator's finding is correct, Woodrow said, "It damn well better be an isolated case — that is not the way we are to operate."
At a minimum, the finding likely will result in a "letter of correction" in TBT's file with the state, according to Brad Benfield, a DOL spokesman. He said it is possible that a TBT driver copied Hunter's signature from a previous authorization. The department is looking into other consumer complaints against TBT and plans to audit the company, Benfield said.
In addition to concluding that the November tow was unauthorized, Rambayon found that TBT violated state laws by entering inconsistent license-plate and VIN (vehicle identification number) information on its master log and related paperwork. Rambayon found that TBT entered vehicle information associated with a 2003 Toyota Camry instead of the 1991 Mazda pickup belonging to Gil Kiesecker.
Kiesecker's truck was towed from the Olive Way store at 12:54 a.m. Nov. 23, records show. It cost him $273 to recover it. In an e-mail he sent to DOL in March, Kiesecker complained that TBT refused to show him the authorization form when he asked to see it.
As a result of Kiesecker's complaint, Rambayon interviewed Hunter, who denied that the signature on the impound-authorization form was his. Hunter told Rambayon that he worked on Nov. 23, but said his shift was from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
In February, after a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer drew attention to questionable tows at the Olive Way store, Starbucks told TBT to back off from overnight tows, Wyss said.
A "no parking overnight" sign was removed, she said, because the store cares about keeping the lot clear for customers only when it's open. The store closes at midnight.
According to a TBT logbook kept at the Olive Way store, the last entry for a store-authorized tow was Oct. 3, both Wyss and Hunter said.
Woodrow said dispatcher logs in TBT's office could prove that between October and December of last year, Starbucks called TBT 73 times to tow vehicles from the Olive Way store.
Yesterday he suggested that Starbucks decided to terminate TBT to save face. "It's a classic case of a company trying to save your skin," Woodrow said.
Despite the investigator's findings, Kiesecker expressed disappointment with how long it took to look into his case, and anger that TBT is not facing criminal charges.
"It should be a criminal offense for TBT to illegally tow cars without authorization," he said in an e-mail to The Seattle Times.
Benfield said Rambayon's findings are before the department's legal-services unit, which will decide what further action the department might take against TBT. Options range from the corrective letter — all but certain as a result of Rambayon's finding — to formal charges that could lead to more serious sanctions, Benfield said.
The development involving TBT marks the second time this year that DOL has investigated a towing company in connection with authorization issues. Kent-based West Coast Towing Services flouted the state's requirement for individual authorizations, claiming federal law trumped it.
West Coast owner John Tillison contended there was nothing wrong with blanket authorizations obtained from certain property owners to allow "patrol towing." Under patrol or "roam towing," drivers impound vehicles they consider improperly parked with no further authorization.
In February, DOL issued a set of charges and a cease-and-desist order against West Coast, accusing it of impounding without authorizations.
Tillison tried unsuccessfully to get the order overturned in Tacoma federal court; earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess threw out Tillison's lawsuit that aimed to challenge the state's authorization requirement.
Unlike West Coast, TBT is not openly defying state law. But in an interview earlier this year, Woodrow said he was rooting for Tillison to prevail in court — and that he suspected most other towing companies were, too.
Peter Lewis: 206-464-2217 or plewis@seattletimes.com
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