A Dallas couple says a trip to the grocery store cost them $174 more than it should have. That's because while they shopped, their car was being towed.
"Very bad man," Rodolfo Gaona said, referring to the tow truck driver.
Gaona and his wife, Catalina, went to La Michoacana on Westmoreland Road in Dallas last month. They said they parked their SUV in a parking space by the road, because it's for sale and they wanted it to get attention. It did, but not the kind they wanted.
When the couple returned to their vehicle about an hour later to load groceries, the SUV was gone. The Gaonas showed NBC 5 surveillance video they recorded on their phone from the store's surveillance system. It shows a driver with All Cities Towing hammering a sign to a post across from where the Gaonas' vehicle was parked. The driver then hitches their SUV and takes it away.
The senior citizens had to walk home with their groceries. "Six or eight blocks," Gaona said.
The tow receipt shows 'for sale' as the reason for towing, but the Gaonas argue they were customers. They had to pay $174 to get the SUV back.
"Bandito," Catalina Gaona said in Spanish, calling the driver a "thief without shame."
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
The Dallas Police Department confirmed its Auto Theft Salvage Squad is investigating.
A records check shows All Cities Towing Inc., which also goes by City Vehicle Storage Inc., was assessed a $300 penalty earlier this year for failing to include required information on mailed notifications.
The Gaonas hired attorney Angela Mata, who told NBC 5 she plans to file a suit next week.
"No esta bien," It's not good Catalina Gaona said. The couple said they don't want it to happen to anyone else.
