Owner of illegal tow lot in South Deering appears to have been shut down before
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Last week, we told you about a lot in South Deering full of dozens of illegally towed cars – some of them even stolen.
At the time, we didn't know the name of the company behind it. Now we do, and as CBS 2's Sabrina Franza reported Thursday, this may not be the first time the business owner has been ordered to stop operations.
The tow truck company appears to have been shut down - and resurrected with a new name. One driver told us Thursday that their car was towed in December – and then there was radio silence.
He couldn't find his car.
It wasn't until he saw his car being seized by the city on CBS 2 that he found out what happened. Based on the many complains we found about the company, his story isn't unique.
The company in question is called Take Me Home Towing Inc. But in this case, all the cars were taken to an illegal lot.
Our sources tell CBS 2 that at least nine of the cars in the lot on South Torrence Avenue were stolen – far away from "home."
We first showed you the lot on Tuesday, May 9, as the city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, the Chicago Police Department, and other agencies were working quickly to relocate the cars.
We started looking into the owner of that space – and sources led us to Take Me Home Towing.
Since the company received its registration in November, it has been hit with at least 10 citations and 11 complaints in the past six months. The citations were for offenses such as not providing proper disclosure forms, and failure to cooperate with Illinois Commerce Commission investigations.
The company has been fined $9,000.
But that does not even include what has happened since authorities busted the unauthorized lot in South Deering.
The owner of Take Me Home Towing, according to state records obtained by CBS 2, is the same person listed as the owner of a different towing company – Tow Pros Inc.
Their registration was revoked in August 2021 – months before Take Me Home Towing Inc. was "founded."
We tried calling that owner. It went voicemail – twice.
Chicago Police have been calling owners using license plates and VIN numbers for this latest round of vehicles.
It is not clear why the same owner could have been issued another registration under a different company name if the first one was revoked. We are waiting to hear back from the Illinois Commerce Commission about that.