How a Connecticut DMV Worker Made 1000’s by Promoting Towed Automobiles — ProPublica

The silver Jeep Wrangler that confirmed up on the Connecticut Division of Motor Autos inspection station was lacking all 4 of its wheels. Gone, too, had been its doorways.

“Automobile is totally stripped,” the Connecticut towing firm wrote to the state DMV. That was why it was solely value $1,000, the corporate stated on an official kind that took benefit of a state regulation permitting it to promote automobiles it had towed.

Pictures submitted by the tow truck firm confirmed the Jeep coated in contemporary snow, however surprisingly, regardless of it having no doorways, there was no snow contained in the automobile, suggesting the doorways had just lately been eliminated. The corporate additionally failed to say that when it towed the stolen Jeep after a police cease three weeks earlier, it had trendy rims on its still-attached wheels and an LED gentle bar above the windshield, and the police wrote that the automobile had “no seen injury.”

The DMV authorized the request to promote the automobile, and some months later, the Jeep was posted on the market — not by the tow truck firm however on the Fb web page of a longtime DMV worker. The Jeep now had rims, wheels and a light-weight bar prefer it had when police stopped it.

The DMV worker offered the Jeep to a used automotive supplier for $13,500. After passing by a number of extra fingers, one other dealership finally offered it to a buyer for $28,781.44.

The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica in January uncovered how Connecticut’s laws favor towing companies at the expense of drivers. The state permits tow firms to hunt the DMV’s permission to promote some automobiles after 15 days — one of many shortest such home windows within the nation. The system has resulted in a variety of abuses with little oversight from the DMV.

The case of the Jeep with the lacking wheels, specified by inner DMV information, is an excessive instance of how the DMV has failed to observe a course of that has had extreme penalties for some automotive house owners with low incomes. CT Mirror and ProPublica have spoken to dozens of people that had their vehicles towed and by no means noticed them once more. Many stated they had been by no means notified that their automotive can be offered.

With out sturdy oversight from the company, somebody who works for the DMV discovered a strategy to revenue off that system with out dealing with any penalties.

The towing firm’s gross sales to the DMV worker went on for a number of years. It was lastly found when a doc the worker had submitted to acquire the title for one of many automobiles two years earlier got here to the eye of the DMV’s investigations unit.

In complete, DMV investigators discovered that from 2015 to not less than 2019, the towing firm, D&L Auto Physique & Towing, in Berlin, Connecticut, offered 15 automobiles to an funding agency owned by a person named Dominik Stefanski, a doc examiner then within the DMV’s primary workplace in Wethersfield, exterior Hartford.

In response to the DMV case report, every time D&L workers went to the DMV workplace, they might make eye contact with Stefanski, who would then permit them to chop the habitually lengthy, slow-moving traces. In trade for this favor, the report stated, Stefanski would spend his days off strolling the corporate’s lot choosing automobiles that had belonged to different individuals solely weeks or months prior. D&L would then undervalue the vehicles on DMV kinds, investigators stated, permitting Stefanski to purchase them cheaply and resell them for a revenue.

DMV Commissioner Tony Guerrera declined to reply particular questions concerning the investigation. However Guerrera, who was deputy commissioner throughout the investigation and have become commissioner in 2023, stated after reporters raised questions concerning the incident, “This situation has been escalated to the Workplace of Labor Relations for additional assessment and to make sure a radical evaluation.”

In an interview within the doorway of his residence, Stefanski denied the investigators’ findings. He stated he by no means let D&L reduce the road, and when he was knowledgeable that D&L workers instructed investigators he bought not less than 15 vehicles from them, he scoffed, “Jesus Christ, most likely not.”

The investigators “tried, however nothing got here up as a result of they knew they’d nothing,” Stefanski stated.

D&L issued a press release saying proprietor Kevin Harrison wasn’t conscious of the scheme till DMV investigators requested about it. “The corporate’s supervisor on the time acted on his personal and thought he was doing the correct factor by promoting in-operable vehicles,” the assertion stated. In response to investigators, most of the vehicles had been in good situation. The supervisor was fired, D&L stated.

“D & L Auto Physique & Towing, LLC works with the Division of Motor Automobile to make sure that one of these state of affairs doesn’t occur once more,” the assertion stated.

Finally, the DMV didn’t take any motion towards D&L or Stefanski, and Stefanski nonetheless works on the DMV.

The Jeep With the Lacking Wheels

D&L first got here into possession of the silver Wrangler in January 2018, when the Meriden Police Division referred to as D&L to tow a Jeep that had been stolen from a automotive dealership in Pennsylvania and positioned throughout a site visitors cease.

Hector Luis Gonzalez, who was driving the Jeep, stated in an interview that he was shocked when officers instructed him it was stolen. His uncle had purchased the Jeep from a automotive supplier within the Bronx, and he had a title. Gonzalez stated he had put some huge cash into the Jeep, buying new tires and rims that price almost $5,000 and shopping for a light-weight bar within the entrance that price greater than $500.

“I purchased it from a supplier, so I didn’t count on that the automotive was stolen,” Gonzalez stated.

As soon as a automotive is towed, the towing firm is meant to inform the automotive’s proprietor inside 48 hours. As days move, storage charges add up, making it costly for drivers to retrieve their vehicles. After 15 days, the tower can ask the DMV for permission to promote a automotive in the event that they deem it to be value lower than $1,500. This offers firms an incentive to put a decrease worth on automobiles, as they might in any other case have to attend 45 days to promote.

Gonzalez stated he referred to as D&L after the automotive was towed and workers instructed him that the supplier it had been stolen from had picked it up.

However when investigators reached the dealership, Koch 33 Automotive, two years later, its administration stated it had no thought the automotive had been recovered and instructed DMV officers that the supplier nonetheless had an curiosity in it.

“I’ve been underneath the idea that the automobile was nonetheless thought of stolen,” a dealership worker instructed investigators. The corporate didn’t reply to calls looking for remark. The DMV is liable for verifying the details on the kinds towers submit that state they tried to contact the proprietor. A automobile search additionally ought to have proven the automobile was stolen, which might have flagged the potential sale.

Twenty-five days after the tow, D&L submitted a kind to the DMV saying that it needed to promote the Jeep and that it was solely value $1,000.

In concept, the DMV had a strategy to catch tow truck firms that undervalued vehicles. Earlier than approving a sale, DMV workers are imagined to examine the e-book worth and, if the declared worth is decrease, request extra data as to why the tower believes the automotive is value much less. On this case, the Nationwide Vehicle Sellers Affiliation worth for the Wrangler was $15,100, in response to DMV information.

However D&L was in a position to get round that by offering photographs of the automotive with out doorways or wheels. It then introduced the Jeep on a flatbed to the DMV, the place an inspector famous the lacking elements and stamped a kind declaring it not authorized for highway use.

Lower than 4 months later, D&L offered the Jeep for $1,400 to JDM Investments, an organization that Connecticut secretary of state enterprise filings present was owned by Stefanski.

Beneath state regulation, the income from gross sales of towed vehicles are imagined to belong to the automobile house owners. Towing firms have to carry onto the proceeds for a yr and switch over any remaining cash, after subtracting their charges, to the state.

However towing firms can get round that rule by promoting vehicles for small quantities so there aren’t any income left as soon as towing and storage charges are deducted.

Within the case of the Jeep offered to Stefanski, investigators calculated that there ought to have been $390 left over, however D&L by no means paid that to the proprietor or the state. If it had offered the automobile for the e-book worth, there would have been about $14,000 in income.

After the sale, Stefanski, who has labored on the DMV since 1999 and earns $72,000 yearly, utilized for the automobile’s title however stated he wasn’t able to register the automotive. That restricted the paper path: The DMV has no strategy to monitor unregistered vehicles.

Curiously, information uncovered by investigators confirmed that 5 days earlier than buying the Jeep from D&L, Stefanski had already offered it to a used automotive supplier, Toria Truck Rental & Leasing of Hartford, which additionally does enterprise as South Inexperienced Automotive, for $13,500.

After promoting it to the supplier, Stefanski appeared to assist Toria resell the automobile by itemizing it on Fb: “Promoting my jeep 2010 solely 73k miles clear title asking 23k$.” Two weeks later, the Jeep was offered at a public auto public sale for $18,130 to a Groton dealership, which 10 days later offered it to a buyer for $28,781, information present.

In response to investigators, Toria then despatched Stefanski a fee examine for over $2,000 for the gross sales of two vehicles, together with the Jeep.

Toria’s co-owner Edward Michaels stated he and one other worker, who now not works for him, met with DMV investigators and so they “had been cleared.” The DMV didn’t pursue costs towards Toria.

The Deserted Cadillac

When vehicles are offered, towing firms should submit a kind referred to as an H-110 that tells the DMV who the brand new proprietor of the automobile is and the way a lot it offered for. However the DMV says it doesn’t have an environment friendly strategy to monitor these. If it did, it’d discover tendencies like a lot of towed automobiles being bought by the identical firm.

4 months in the past, CT Mirror and ProPublica requested six months’ value of H-110s underneath the state public information regulation. The DMV stated it might solely search gross sales by particular automobile identification numbers.

CT Mirror and ProPublica requested kinds on 18 automobiles that tow firms sought to promote. The DMV stated it solely had that data on two of them: the 2010 Jeep and a 2010 Cadillac Escalade that Stefanski purchased from D&L a few yr later.

D&L towed the Cadillac from the Econo Lodge in Southington in November 2018. When the tower requested the DMV to promote the automotive, it wrote that the Cadillac was value $750 as a result of it had no key and had entrance finish injury. In response to the DMV report, the e-book worth of the automotive was $17,500.

The corporate offered the Cadillac to JDM Investments 5 months later for $1,000. Stefanski flipped the automotive to Toria for $17,500, which offered it at a public public sale for $18,300 to a Putnam auto supplier that then offered it to a buyer in October 2019 for $23,250.

When it was initially towed, the Cadillac had belonged to Southington resident Daniel Rodriguez, who had left the automotive within the Econo Lodge parking zone after placing a guardrail on the freeway. Rodriguez stated in an interview that he had been battling an dependancy on the time and “left it there.”

“I used to be not in the correct way of thinking, and I simply by no means went again,” Rodriguez stated.

Rodriguez stated he by no means heard from any tow firm or obtained any discover that his automotive was being offered till a DMV investigator contacted him in early 2020 after he’d moved to Texas. He wrote again “requesting any funds which will have been generated because of the sale of the automobile.”

However Rodriguez stated he was instructed by DMV officers it was too late: “Someone obtained again to me stating that a lot time glided by, and I wasn’t allowed any compensation.”

That was incorrect. As a result of solely eight months had handed because the sale, Rodriguez ought to have been in a position to declare any proceeds from the towing firm. However on this case, there wasn’t any cash to assert due to the way in which the transactions had been dealt with.

Till CT Mirror and ProPublica contacted Rodriguez, he stated, nobody had instructed him that his automotive had been bought by a DMV worker and that it will definitely offered for greater than $23,000.

“It’s like a thorn within the rear finish,” Rodriguez stated.

“They Can’t Do Nothing”

The DMV spent greater than a yr, beginning in February 2020, investigating connections between Stefanski and D&L.

D&L finally turned over information to investigators that confirmed it had offered JDM Investments 15 vehicles. The investigators’ report additionally confirmed they interviewed the proprietor of an auto physique store who admitted {that a} receipt for $1,071 value of labor on the Jeep was fabricated at Stefanski’s behest.

Stefanski stated he didn’t perceive the allegation as a result of the DMV would have reviewed the receipt when it issued him the title to the Jeep.

In the course of the investigation, one D&L worker described a dialog the worker had with Stefanski as investigators started to look into the case.

“You’re fucked,” the worker stated he instructed Stefanski.

In response to the worker, Stefanski replied that the investigators had questioned him concerning the Jeep.

“Like an hour after I offered you the Jeep you had it on the market on Fb,” the D&L worker responded. “You instructed me you wanted all of the automobiles for your loved ones however that was bullshit.”

Stefanski simply instructed him to not fear. “I obtained receipts for the whole lot,” he instructed the worker, in response to the investigators’ information. “Don’t say something to the officers. I obtained the whole lot coated. I’ve illustration within the union and so they can’t do nothing.”

Throughout Stefanski’s interview with investigators, he denied doing any favors for D&L and instructed them he wanted the vehicles for an actual property enterprise.

“I instructed you I don’t flip vehicles. I noticed my enterprise wasn’t figuring out so I offered it,” Stefanski stated.

In an interview with CT Mirror and ProPublica, Stefanski stated fixing up vehicles is his interest.

The investigators questioned why Stefanski purchased a number of automobiles, by no means registered them after which offered them. Did he notice his enterprise wasn’t figuring out a number of instances? “This makes completely no sense,” one investigator stated, in response to the DMV report.

In January 2021, DMV investigators utilized for arrest warrants looking for to cost Stefanski and not less than two D&L workers, together with its then-manager, with larceny and title fraud.

However then-Assistant State Lawyer Evelyn Rojas declined to file costs, citing “prosecutorial discretion” and “inadequate proof to satisfy the burden of proof past an affordable doubt.”

“The Division of Motor Autos is free to pursue no matter civil cures it deems acceptable towards the defendant and some other concerned get together,” Rojas wrote in a 2021 memo.

Rojas, who now works on the state legal professional basic’s workplace, didn’t reply to questions on her determination.

The DMV might have issued fines towards D&L and even revoked the towing firm’s license. The company might have suspended or tried to fireplace Stefanski. However the company did nothing to both of them.

In an interview with reporters, Stefanski maintained that he hadn’t finished something unsuitable within the transactions when proven a duplicate of the unsigned arrest warrant investigators had drafted.

“If it was one thing unlawful, then why didn’t they signal it?” Stefanski requested.

CT Mirror and ProPublica obtained Stefanski’s personnel information from 2018-23, and he obtained glowing evaluations from his bosses. No point out was manufactured from the investigation or his position in it.

Stefanski nonetheless works as a doc examiner, though he’s transferred to the DMV’s New Britain workplace.

Because the investigation, Stefanski has tried to promote a number of vehicles and auto elements on Fb, together with posting an engine from a 2014 Audi for $2,500 in November.

“I don’t perceive why I can’t” make these gross sales, Stefanski stated in an interview.

The engine, he stated, he obtained from a buddy.