OAKLAND PARK, Fla. – Kimberlie Peña's scooter saga began more than four years ago with one question: "Christopher, where's your bike?"
Peña said her son got a scooter in April 2013 -- something to help him zip around town, and get back and forth to work. But, Christopher did not have his scooter long. It was stolen nearly six months later from the family's Oakland Park driveway.
Investigators would later arrest the thieves who also helped lead them to the stolen scooter. It was recovered from the bottom of a canal, not far from the Peña's home, in January 2014 -- nearly three months after it was reported stolen.
Police had to call a tow company to fish out the scooter, but four years later, Peña's submerged scooter situation unexpectedly resurfaced when she went to renew the registration for a pickup truck she helped her son buy.
"[I] find out from the DMV that there's a lien and I cannot renew the tag," she said.
Peña learned the $725 lien was placed by Westway Towing, the company police called to get the scooter out of the canal.
"Why am I paying for something that was stolen from me?" Peña said.
Peña called the "Leave it to Layron" team to figure out how to solve her scooter head-scratcher.
More than four years have passed since the scooter was stolen and recovered, but Peña was able to show the LITL team several documents related to the case: multiple sheriff's and police reports detailing the theft and subsequent investigation; letters from prosecutors who handled the criminal case against the thieves; and she also produced a certified letter dated Jan. 13, 2014, that was sent by the tow company.
The letter was addressed to Peña's son, to whom the scooter was registered. The letter also detailed how the scooter would be sold the following February.
"So, I just assumed that that means, you're done with it," Peña said.
After all, what would she want with a scooter that sat at the bottom of a canal for who knows how long?
Peña also had a copy of a letter she received in April 2014 from a collections agency, seeking $2,124 on behalf of Westway Towing. She said she immediately called the collections agency to explain how the scooter was stolen. She said she was instructed to send them a copy of her police report, which she said she sent.
"I never heard anything, so my assumption was, done deal," she said.
But, Brett Holcombe, owner of Westway Towing, said Peña should have kept reading that certified letter.
"It says you're subject to a lien process," he said.
It's all spelled out on the back of the mailer which read, in part: "IMPORTANT Eff. 07/01/01, failure to pay charges may prevent owner(s) from being issued a license plate or renewal sticker for any motor vehicle s.320.03(8)."
Holcombe said the lien process "was put in place a few years back to keep people and lien holders from abandonment of their property on the towing companies."
An advisory displayed in the window of Westway's Lauderdale Lakes tow yard alerts people to the law that states: "Any registered owner who does not satisfy the towing and storage charges on their vehicle/vessel may be placed on a list with the state of Florida that will not allow them to purchase a new license plate, or revalidation sticker for any vehicle/vessel" until those charges are paid.
The law allows wrecker operators to place liens against the registered owners of a vehicles, vessels or mobile homes for which a certificate of destruction has been issued and was authorized by law enforcement for a public tow.
When the tow yard never heard back from Peña, the scooter went to auction and the lien process went into effect.
But Holcombe acknowledged each case is different.
He said if Peña had explained the circumstances surrounding the scooter and responded to the letter, he would have been more than happy to waive her fees, and the lien wouldn't have even been placed against her son.
"If there's a reason there that they can explain to me, I'm not going to hold that charge on them," he said. "We don't want to put anymore burden on the people, so we'll just release the lien and make everybody happy."
Holcombe led the LITL into his business office, where an employee filled out a "Notice or Discharge of Wrecker Operator's Lien" form.
"At the end of the day, we'll make it right," he said.
The LITL team went back to Peña's home to hand-deliver the form and explained that all she had to do was take it to the DMV.
"This is priceless," she said, holding the form. "Thank you! Now, I expect a really nice Mother's Day gift."
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles says owners can dispute a wrecker operator's lien using a "Notification of Dispute on a Wrecker Operator's Lien for a Motor Vehicle, Mobile Home or Vessel" form.
If you have a problem or issue that needs to be solved, CLICK HERE to "Leave it to Layron."
