Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Dallas Tow Truck Driver Arrested For Selling Inspection Stickers

Here's the story from the Dallas Morning News:

A Dallas tow truck driver who was allegedly selling illegal vehicle inspection stickers out of his truck was arrested today by the Sheriff's Department following an investigation by the county's clean air task force, officials say.

Coincidentally, Anthony Smith is a driver for Ron's Towing, which is one of the wrecker services that tows vehicles for the sheriff.

"It doesn't matter what agency you're doing business with. We're not going to overlook wrongdoing," said County Judge Jim Foster, who oversees the task force.

Smith was arrested at his house and charged with tampering with a government document, according to Lt. Jerry Kitchens, a deputy constable who serves on the clean air task force.

Smith drives a gigantic wrecker that tows disabled semi-trailers. It was so big the task force couldn't impound it, Foster said.

Kitchens said Smith also dealt in counterfeit inspection stickers. He said Smith got the real ones from a Dallas vehicle inspection station. Smith charged $100 for the real stickers, Kitchens said. He wasn't sure how many were sold.

The task force launched the investigation after a sheriff's deputy stopped a motorist with a counterfeit inspection sticker. The task force traced that bogus sticker back to Smith, Kitchens said. The task force then had an undercover officer buy a real sticker from Smith, he said.

Smith hadn't yet been booked into the jail as of the writing of this post.

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