A towing company in Pasco allegedly took a truck they weren’t supposed to, police say

A tow truck owner in Pasco allegedly tried to extort an electrical company working on the Lewis Street overpass.

Socorro “Jesse” Lopez-Spindola, 58, allegedly didn’t have permission to tow a work truck from an Oregon Avenue parking lot in early September.

Then he charged $350 for the company to get it back.

Now, prosecutors have charged him with first-degree criminal impersonation in Franklin County Superior Court.

He has paid the $500 bail and is allowed to continue working throughout Washington, Oregon and California, according to court documents.

While he has only been charged with taking a legally parked vehicle one time, it’s not the only time he’s been accused of it, according to court documents.

Detectives are looking into at least four other cases of theft and extortion involving Lopez-Spindola, Officer James Buckley said in a probable cause affidavit from Oct. 5.

And that was before officers posted information about his arrest on Facebook. Since then more people have come forward to police, Pasco Lt. Tom Groom told the Herald.

Several people have shared their own opinions about Classic Towing and Recovery on Facebook. One reviewer claimed his van was taken from the Metro Mart parking lot in Kennewick after getting permission to park it there.

Lopez-Spindola has run Classic Towing and Recovery since 2020, according to state Department of Revenue records. He has licenses to haul junk vehicles, operate a tow truck and transport vehicles.

Those licenses are set to expire in September 2024.

Pasco police are asking anyone with information about the towing company to contact Detective Andrew Taylor by email at taylora@pasco-wa.gov or call 509-545-3421.

Extortion

The investigation started with a DJ’s Electrical work truck parked in a shopping center on 104 S. Oregon Ave. in September, according to court documents.

The truck was parked there while workers did “critical infrastructure work” on underground power lines for the the Lewis Street Overpass Project. The project to connect Second Avenue and Oregon Avenue includes a 625-foot concrete overpass over the BNSF Railway yard and a 70-foot single span structure over First Avenue.

Lopez-Spindola towed the truck away from the parking lot, and charged a $350 towing fee.

Buckley said he found that Lopez-Spindola violated 11 administrative codes regulating tow truck operations. Those were reported to the Department of Licensing, according to court documents.

The Department of Licensing just started looking into those complaints, said Christine Anthony, a spokeswoman with the agency. The review could result in an investigation of administrative violations.

He discovered that Lopez-Spindola didn’t have permission to pick up vehicles from that parking lot.

In addition, no one had ever complained about the DJ’s Electrical truck. Both of these are required for a tow truck company to impound a vehicle.

“Lopez knowingly acted in this pretended capacity with the intent to defraud another person ... by illegally personally identifying the work truck for impound, while also knowing he did not have a signed authorization for that impound.”

This story was originally published October 11, 2023 at 12:33 PM.