An Arlington moving company has been ordered to stop doing business by the federal government. This comes after a series of reports by NBC 5's Samantha Chatman.
We recently told you about a woman who said the moving company was holding her items for ransom.
Back in February, Theresa Riley said Presidential Moving Services added thousands of dollars of erroneous charges to her balance.
Her claims caught the attention from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles.
The DMV told us, "After seeing NBC 5's story in February, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles contacted the consumer and assisted her with filing a complaint regarding Presidential Moving LLC."
Today, Riley finally has her belongings back, but she couldn't help but think that there were others out there.
"It wasn't just me. They were holding other people's stuff, too," she said.
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According to the state documents, she was right.
The Arlington moving company is charged with 256 violations, which include failure to give up possession of household goods, failure to prepare a binding estimate and providing false and misleading or deceptive information in advertisements.
The Texas DMV is now ordering the moving company to pay a penalty of $648,000, and the federal government is taking it a step further.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an "out-of-service" order and revoked the company's moving registration.
We're told the company did not allow the government to perform a safety audit, which is against the law.
None of this information surprised Riley, but she is glad she didn't stop fighting to get her things back.
"Sometimes, I wanted to give up, but i didn't," she said.
Riley believes her mom, who passed away right before she hired the company, would be proud.
"She probably would say 'Good girl. You did well,'" Riley said.
Presidential Moving Services will have to reapply with the federal government and pay the state that $648,000 fine if it wants to continue its business.
We tried calling the company but kept getting a busy signal.
Earlier this year, a representative for with company denied all claims of wrongdoing and told us if they weren't up to code with the state, they would have been shut down a long time ago.
