Multiple people are facing criminal charges for a towing operation accused of stealing semi trucks and targeting only immigrant and minority drivers.
On Thursday, October 10th 30-year-old Brad Duwayne Warner was charged with engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity and seven counts of theft by extortion, and 20-year-old Danalee Ashlyn Rodriguez was charged with engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity in West Valley City, Utah.
Both Warner and Rodriguez were involved with Bailout Towing, whose owner, 46-year-old Jason Samuel Lovato, was charged with two dozen crimes over the summer, including engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, theft, three counts of robbery, and 10 counts of theft by extortion; six counts of vehicle burglary, theft by deception, and assault with substantial injury, and assault, reported KSL News.
During an investigation of the towing company and their practices, investigators “found that Lovato and his employees would unlawfully impound semitrucks and trailers with strong-arm tactics, holding the semitrucks and trailers for ransom, and/or stealing the semitrucks/trailers” and “would only target immigrant and minority semitruck drivers.”
Detectives discovered that, in one instance, Lovato had “entered the semi using a skeleton key and drove the semi to his storage facility without the use of a tow truck.” Then, when contacted by the company that owner the truck, Lovato “did not immediately respond, resulting in the vehicle being stored for several days longer than it should have been.” Lovato then charged the company for the extra time.
Similar towing incidents involving the company include Lovato and Warner detaching a trailer from a semi truck while the driver slept in the cab and towing the trailer away, and three more situations where Lovato fought with truck drivers. One driver suffered a broken finger during the altercations.