A towing company owner is facing several felony charges after taking possession of an inmate’s car.
Imagine you were arrested, and your favorite 1967 Chevy Camaro is stolen while behind bars. Then, when it’s found and towed by a local company, the tow truck driver decides to try and take advantage of your situation and make himself the legal owner of it. It sounds pretty crazy, right?
Well, that’s exactly what happened to Tim McManus while he was serving time in North Carolina’s Rowan County Detention Center. He was stopped and arrested in September of 2022 for driving without a valid license.
Jeremy Good, the owner of LeBleu’s Towing and Salvage, was contracted to tow the vehicle as McManus was processed. When he was released from jail, he came to the yard after hours and stole it back to avoid fees. Police took it back to LeBlue’s impound lot, and McManus returned to jail.
Upon his release the second time, he tried to do it right. He borrowed money from a friend and returned to the lot to get the Camaro back. For a short while, the Camaro was back in McManus’s possession. Until he was arrested a third time for unrelated offenses.
McManus’s friend did him dirty while he was behind bars
While McManus was away, the friend who loaned him the money to get it back took it to Good and sold it for the amount he was owed by McManus, reported QC News.
Documents submitted to Rowan County Clerk’s Office reported he was owed $7,290 from McManus from September 2022 to April 2023. He told the agency that he intended to claim ownership of the vehicle and would apply for the title.
However, the Sheriff’s department had body camera evidence from a deputy who searched McManus’s property in March of 2023 and the Camaro was on his property.
Therefore, Good was charged with two felony counts of falsifying documents, a felony for uttering a forged instrument, a felony for obtaining property by false pretenses, and a felony for forging and altering a title.
Authorities confirmed an investigation is ongoing.
