I was involved in a fairly major car accident on 7-11-05, in Brighton, CO. The first sign that trouble was brewing is when I saw my tow truck driver put the kitty litter used to soak up some spilled ant-freeze from the car that hit me on the floor of my car, right by the gas/brake pedals. What!?
In all the confusion following the accident, I left my wallet near the accident scene, which also had my car registration, business card of officer on the scene with the accidents case # on it and my proof of insurance card.
I did not realize this until the tow truck driver (I believe his name was Juan, with C & J Auto Service in Fort Lupton, CO) dropped me, and my car, off at an auto body shop in Longmont. He volunteered to see if my wallet was still there because he said he was headed out that way. I never asked him to get it for me. So I told him were it probably was, which could not of been found unless you were looking for it.
Once he got there, he called me and said it was there and it was in the same condition as I left it. He said I could pick it up near his service area, in Fort Lupton, CO. He said to call him once I was in the area. When I arrived in town, I found a nice busy intersection where he could easily locate me. I then gave Juan a call.
He asked where I was and then wanted to know how much reward I would give him for my wallet. When I questioned him about that, he said it was worth a lot of money on the street, as I had a number of platinum credit cards in my wallet, along with my driver license and social security card.
He would not give me back my wallet unless I would give him cash in return. I told him I don't carry cash and don't use my atm card, so I didn't know my pin number. I offered to write him a check, thinking I would just cancel it right away, but he would not take a check. I told him let me figure something out.
As soon as I got off the phone I called the police. It was only with their help that I was able to get my wallet back. The officer who helped me out, very nice guy from the Fort Lupton police, talked to the driver and owner of the tow company. But get this; this guy argued with the police officer that he deserved a reward. Of course the officer told him if he didn't return it, he would find him and arrest him.
What surprised me was the owner didn't seem to mind what his driver did.By the way, all the contents of my wallet were removed and just sloppily placed back in. When he handed the wallet back to me, he said, This is how I found it. I quickly went through and sure enough he kept one of my credit cards, my proof of insurance card, and the business card of officer at the accident scene.
Here I thought the guy was being a Good Samaritan and he turns out to be an opportunist thief. And to think I was going to offer to take the guy out for a nice dinner as a thank you.
I have since cancelled all my credit cards and am know worried about identity theft. I am also concerned of retaliation, as he now has my home address. Not the kind of things I need to concern myself with after a car wreck and dealing with those issues. Both Fort Lupton and Brighton police will be looking into the matter further and will most likely remove them from their call lists.
I encourage anyone who lives near here to tell all your friends about C & J's business practices and customer care. Can you imagine the owner of this place condoning such things? Unbelievable! I'm not done with this company. They messed with the wrong guy.
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