By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

CALIFORNIA —— Landlords need to keep junk cars from piling up and left behind by tenants who fall out of love with restoration projects while tenants need to be protected
from management jumping the gun on ordering vehicles towed as is the allegation by a resident of Wildewood.

As a result of this tug of war to keep local apartment projects spiffy a local sailor found his car towed and crushed for scrap metal all in the course of a weekend because his tags expired.

Richard Riley, a sailor attached to Pax River NAS told ST. MARY’S TODAY that he had three vehicles in the parking lot of his Wildewood apartment and he had forgotten to attach a new sticker for his 2000 Mitsubishi Gallant, which is a show car worth about $4,700.00, not a rusting relic which could be considered to be abandoned.

Riley’s tags were expired for three months.

He was told by an employee of the apartment project prior to taking a trip to Florida early last month and he said he would take care of the car when he returned in a week.

Leah Carney, the resident manager of the Apartments of Wildewood stated in a July 23rd letter to Riley that she had given him ten days to remove his vehicle following the receipt of complaints from neighbors. She said that part of the front bumper was missing, a mirror had been broken and was dangling down and the car’s tags had expired.

She said that she contacted Willie’s Towing and instructed them to tow and store the vehicle, a car with Virginia vanity plates "DER I GO".

The firm that towed the vehicle has a different story from Riley, denies that the vehicle was a ‘show car’, noted that the bumpers were off, the mirrors were dangling and the interior was stripped out, with no seats in the car, fitting the bill in every way of being an abandoned junker.
"They towed my car and when I called to find out who took it, the management told me that Willies had picked it up, I called him and he told me it had already been crushed," said Riley, an 11-year veteran of the Navy. "When I called St. Mary’s Salvage, they said the car had been stripped when it was brought in, so I called the Sheriff’s Department and when I told them what happened, they told me it was a civil matter, so I have filed suit against Willies Towing."

Riley said that there are no signs around the parking lot with instructions as to what firm tows vehicles, their phone number or directions on how to redeem a vehicle.

"I can’t believe that the apartment complex would do this, they have all of my phone numbers and could have called me to remind me instead of having my car crushed," said Riley.

Riley said that that he called the base legal office for help and was told that they are closed until August 11th, meaning that any sailors who have legal problems will just have to chill out until the lawyers get back from vacation.

"I even called Norfolk," said Riley, who served in Enduring Freedom in 2003.

Riley said he turned to Congressman Steny Hoyer’s office for help and they gave him the phone number of the closed Navy legal office at Pax River.

Willie Henderson of Willie’s Towing in Great Mills said that the only reason he didn’t take the car straight to the scrap yard was that he already had another vehicle on top of his truck and the management had asked him to stop and take a look at this car and remove it at once.

"I have been in business for thirty years and if a car is okay we store it and wait for someone to redeem it," said Willie, who had another employee at the shop who verified the junk condition of Riley’s car. "This was just abandoned and a wreck and it was ready for the crusher, nothing else."

Riley got a copy of the St. Mary’s Salvage certification of scrap signed by Willies which declared that he had legal authority to order the vehicle scrapped and sold it to the junk yard. The going rate for the car could have been as much as $500.

Riley said he was told that the car was stripped prior to being brought to the salvage yard.

Carney is very specific about what she thought Willy’s would do with Riley’s car.

In a written statement prepared for her company which she gave a copy of to Riley, she stated: "When Mr. Riley came into my office on July 22nd and informed me his car was taken to a junk yard and crushed, I was shocked. I had no idea they would take it to a junk yard and much less have it crushed. These were not my orders to Willy when he came to take the car away."

Carney also stated: "I was under the impression he would take it to an impound lot where Mr. Riley would have to pay the fee to get it out."

A photo of the car from a recent show gives the impression that the car was in good condition and Riley admits that the mirror had been broken and was dangling down, that an area of the drivers door had primer on it due to a paint repair and that a portion of the front bumper had been removed for repair. Riley denies that any of his interior was missing.

Where Riley might have a case, even though he violated his lease agreement, according to one legal expert, was the failure of Wildewood to be certain that the towing company they hired to removed his vehicle followed the law regarding a holding period for an owner to redeem his vehicle once it was towed.

Riley might want to add Wildewood Apartments as a defendant in his suit against Willie’s Towing, said our expert.

Riley’s responsibility to his lease to keep his vehicles in current tags and good condition are serious ones, but at the entrance to the Apartments of Wildewood, the first car parked on the right, was in about the same condition as described by Carney, with faded and peeling paint, minor dents and body damage.

As for Riley, he may not get any help from the Navy, at least until the station’s lawyer gets back from the beach, but he is ready to go to court to avenge his "Der I GO" which was crushed before it’s time.